Honda chairman Koji Watanabe shares the reason behind the current Aston Martin problems. The Japanese engine supplier is providing the power units to the British racing team for the first time this year, after they previously reversed their decision to quit Formula 1. However, that decision did not come immediately after ending the partnership with Red Bull, which according to Watanabe is the cause of Aston Martin’s current problems with the brand-new 2026 engine: ‘There was a period of inactivity at Honda’.
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Engine supplier Honda worked with Red Bull for years before the Austrians decided to build their own power unit from 2026. The Japanese were initially going to leave Formula 1, but changed their minds and entered into a partnership with Aston Martin. During the test weeks in Barcelona and Bahrain for 2026, however, the British team encountered several problems with their brand-new car, especially in the area of the engine. Honda top executive Koji Watanabe knows why his company is now having so much trouble getting the power unit in order.
Reason behind Honda problems
The top executive admitted during a press conference in Tokyo that there was a ‘period of inactivity’ at Honda, between the finalization of the 2026 engine regulations and the assembly of a new technical team for the Aston Martin project. “We ended our full participation (in F1, ed.) in 2021 and our engineers returned to mass production and other internal roles,” said Watanabe. “Many engineers left in March 2022. Only mechanics and a small number of engineers remained to support Red Bull.”
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“We were given permission to return in 2023 and started bringing people back from that moment, so it is true that there was a period of inactivity,” the top executive confirms. “The consequences of that are honestly still being felt. When the general framework of the new regulations was established in 2022, we did not have the necessary personnel. Furthermore, there was no cost cap in 2022 and our engineers only started returning from 2023, when the cost cap came into effect for us. There was thus a delay in bringing back the engineers.”
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