Lawrence Stroll’s Honda decision could already be backfiring at Aston Martin in 2026
· Yahoo Sports
There’s an argument that Aston Martin might head into the Australian Grand Prix in March as the slowest team on the grid.
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Before the 2026 season, there was plenty of anticipation and hype around the team. Under Andy Cowell and Mike Krack, Aston Martin had seemingly written off 2025 to focus entirely on the new regulations, and bringing Adrian Newey into their design team looked like a positive step.
Even so, eyebrows were raised when Newey took over as team principal with Cowell moving across to lead the engine project. But putting someone of Newey’s experience in charge still seemed like a sensible decision.
But by pre-season testing in 2026, Aston Martin had already missed the Barcelona shakedown and looked slowest again when they arrived in Bahrain. Team owner Lawrence Stroll will no doubt be unhappy about it, but this situation may trace back to a call he made three years ago.
Aston Martin partnered with Honda as their engine supplier for 2026 after Mercedes left them out of their own works project. The deal was agreed upon quickly and didn’t leave much room for negotiation, mainly because McLaren were also interested in linking up with Honda at that point.
The partnership started well enough as Aston Martin finished third in the Constructors’ Championship with Mercedes power still behind them. But things haven’t gone smoothly since then.
Early Issues with Honda Engine Move Already Creating Trouble
Back in 2023, Aston Martin announced a major shift, moving away from Mercedes engines to partner exclusively with Honda for the new era of Formula 1.
Martin Whitmarsh, who was the team’s CEO at the time, explained the decision to Speedcafe: “Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant is building a team to win in Formula 1.
“Over the last 18 months, I think we’ve been recruiting the right people.
“We’ve been investing in the required facilities and developing the right culture and processes to win. We know, however, that we need strong partnerships.
“It’s a great opportunity to partner with a global motorsport titan like Honda as a works team.”
At first glance, it seemed like a smart move. At that time Honda were powering Red Bull through one of F1’s most dominant seasons ever.
The issue was that by then Honda had already started pulling key personnel away from their F1 efforts. Many of those experts still haven’t come back into the fold.
This season’s regulations place even more emphasis on hybrid power units than before. So far Aston Martin and Honda are well behind their competitors in this area. And there’s another twist: Mercedes, whose engines they left, could end up having the strongest power unit under these new rules.
Lawrence Stroll’s comments about Honda ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season
Honda did something a bit different this year, unveiling their new power unit to the public before testing had even begun.
Speaking at the launch event, Stroll said, as quoted by F1.com: “I am delighted to celebrate the start of our partnership with Honda here in Tokyo today.”
“Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team and Honda share many values, and those values have brought us together for 2026 and beyond.”
“The strong collaboration between the AMR Technology Centre at Silverstone and Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in Sakura demonstrates the depth of our partnership. We are confident that we have all the elements required to fight for victory in the future, and we have tremendous faith in Honda’s power unit and the engineers behind it.
“Our journey won’t always be easy, and challenges inevitably lie ahead, but winning is what drives both companies forward and together we look forward to many successful years of partnership.”
The tone shifted noticeably when Aston Martin held their own launch. Fans had trouble tuning into the AMR26 reveal due to livestream issues, and Alonso was quick to temper expectations.
The Spaniard suggested that Aston Martin wouldn’t be competitive until at least halfway through the year. With GPS data already showing how far behind Honda’s power unit is, even that could prove optimistic.
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