Honda reveals that Aston Martin incorporated the ADUO2 upgrade at the Spanish GP and encourages the F1 team to ‘keep pushing’ to find a ‘small improvement’.
Aston Martin has spent the 2026 F1 season consistently at the back of the grid. The team has struggled amid its partnership with Honda, as the engine has had several issues throughout the season, forcing both drivers to retire in multiple races.
Despite the issues, the team kept pushing for upgrades, and their luck may be turning in the latter part of the season. President of the Honda Racing Corporation Koji Watanabe revealed that Aston Martin introduced the ADUO2 upgrade already at the Spanish GP at the Madring.
“We used ADUO2 to introduce a new turbocharger to improve driveability and also boost lag at exit of the corner,” Shintaro Orihara told media, including Motorsport Week, ahead of the Bahrain GP in Malaysia.
“We could also have engine turbo lag, then we need to use MGU-K to compensate for the lag. That sacrifices some energy. So the upgrade of the turbocharger will help drivability, but also give us some gain of energy management.
“Still, I’m not talking about a big number [in terms of gains], still a small number, but we keep pushing to find this type of small improvement.”
Confirmed boost improvement
Lance Stroll also ran an improved turbocharger at the Madring, while Fernando Alonso took a new turbocharger in Baku.
Orihara continued explaining that the first ADUO engine debuted in August at the Dutch GP.
“At Zandvoort, which is a fast event, we introduced the ADUO engine. There was a lesson to improve performance by changing calibration and we have been working on that area to improve performance by changing calibration.
“It’s not a big improvement from calibration, but we keep working to find some small performance gains.
“And then in Madrid and also Baku, we introduced an upgrade to the turbocharger using ADUO2.
“We found some room to improve on boost following the main effect on driveability. So we introduced and updated the turbocharger to improve boost following and we confirmed the effect in Baku, where boost following is quite important.”
Aston Martin took a step forward in qualifying for the Bahrain GP in Malaysia, following confirmation of the upgrades. With Alonso finishing the session in a surprising P12 and Stroll in P14, the team can only hope the improvements continue.
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