Adrian Newey believes Aston Martin’s relationship with Honda has only strengthened over the last few months following a “disastrous” start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Having provided powertrains for Red Bull Racing until last year, Honda made its debut with Aston Martin at the start of the 2026 season, but the partnership quickly encountered hurdles as the power unit suffered a myriad of issues early on.
Its unreliability caused drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to not finish a race for the first three rounds, and a vibration issue led to fears it would cause permanent nerve damage for them. Coupled with Aston Martin’s uncompetitive car, neither driver has managed to finish inside the top 14 before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, Newey, who has worked as managing technical partner at Aston Martin since 2025, believes the tumultuous start to the season has allowed Honda and the Silverstone-based outfit to grow closer.
“I think what’s really progressed is actually the word you just used: relationship,” he said, speaking to the media in Hungary.
“Out of what can only be called a disastrous start, the positive of that, because you’re always looking for positives, is that it’s brought Honda and ourselves, AMR, into a very close working relationship.
“We continue to develop that in all areas. So, I’m very happy with the progress we’re making from a relationship point of view.
“Normally, if relationships improve, then performance also improves.”
Honda to debut new power unit at Zandvoort
The team is set to run an upgraded power unit at the Dutch Grand Prix following the summer break, which is expected to bring an extra 30 horsepower. This comes after Aston Martin introduced no fewer than 16 upgrades at the Hungarian Grand Prix and delivered their strongest performance of the season so far: Alonso reached Q2 in qualifying for the first time and finished 14th in the race, with Stroll one place ahead in 13th.
Newey continued: “The technical evolution, in terms of the car we’re bringing here and then the updates, as I mentioned, that we’ll be bringing to Zandvoort and on to Baku, yes, I feel there have been very strong steps.”
“We’re clearly playing a big catch-up game. Is it going to make us the quickest car? Unfortunately, not. But does it represent a good step forward from where we were? Yes, I believe it does.”
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