2025 Aston Martin | Aramco F1 Team

[peewon]

he seemed like he knew what honda was doing in detail back in the mclaren honda days. i remember him sharing a lot of details on their PU upgrades and such. he definitely knew, or knew somebody that knew what was going on inside hondas f1 engine department

It does seem so. Honestly, dont know what to make of that. Its entirely possible Honda would downplay expectations given the events of previous regs change.

Chances are 1 PU is gonna be better than the other 4. If you say Merc is gonna be the best cause of some BS rumour you have a 20% chance at being right. If you say Honda isn't gonna be the best, you have 80% chance of being right.

I didn't know statements from Team principals and drivers are "BS rumors". There is absolutely no compulsion to engage with any discussion you dont like.

[selvam_e2002]

gptoday posted a article heading with Honda struggle with 2026 power unit. It seems not false news. could be a serious issue with Honda. Same thing happened in 2014. I am not confident with Honda for 2026. Could be a big struggle for them and not sure how Stroll SR will be react to it if he see the failures with Honda. difficult situation for AMR in 2026...

[-wkst-]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

[TyreSlip]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

That's the only hope I'm clinging to as nothing in that interview sounded positive.

[KimiRai]

The full quote by Watanabe:

“Not so easy. We are struggling. Now we are trying our best to show the result next year.”

“Everything is new,” Watanabe admitted.

“The motor is a new 355-kW, very compact one we need. Also the lightweight battery, it’s not so easy to develop. And also the small engine with the big power.

“Everything is very difficult, but we try our best.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/honda-rac ... power-unit

[KimiRai]

gptoday posted a article heading with Honda struggle with 2026 power unit. It seems not false news. could be a serious issue with Honda. Same thing happened in 2014. I am not confident with Honda for 2026. Could be a big struggle for them and not sure how Stroll SR will be react to it if he see the failures with Honda. difficult situation for AMR in 2026...

The issues Honda had in 2015 were very huge. A more likely negative scenario instead in my opinion would be they are behind Mercedes/Ferrari by some margin. If another disastrous repeat does happen, I find it unlikely, but if it does then you can be sure Fernando will retire.

[dren]

I expect Honda to be competitive when the time comes.

[diffuser]

I expect Honda to be competitive when the time comes.

Agreed.

[Sherrinford]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

You can already tell from the words, look at Mercedes totally different in approach. It will be really tough in 2026, when there are these rumors they almost always come true

[Farnborough]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

You can already tell from the words, look at Mercedes totally different in approach. It will be really tough in 2026, when there are these rumors they almost always come true

A bit like zero pod

Without comparison, in public, it's really just bluster and speculation.

[FW17]

Will Honda making to F1 in 2026?

[Sherrinford]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

You can already tell from the words, look at Mercedes totally different in approach. It will be really tough in 2026, when there are these rumors they almost always come true

A bit like zero pod

Without comparison, in public, it's really just bluster and speculation.

That was a correlation error, but in my opinion we need to ask ourselves why even a team like Alpine decided to use the Mercedes engine.

[-wkst-]

Could be wrong but bare in mind the humble approach and talk of the japanese guys compared to guys in the west. He didn't say anything specific, being slower or better than anyone else, just that it isn't easy for them as everything is new, as it is for every other manufacturer.

You can already tell from the words, look at Mercedes totally different in approach. It will be really tough in 2026, when there are these rumors they almost always come true

Mercedes themselves said nothing relevant about the PU 2026 so far, as far as I up to date. Third parties do a lot of talking. But also Vowles, who was mentioned here before, thinks that the gaps won't be that big (compared to 2014).

But once again, I have absolutely no clue (like everyone else here). It's just the way Honda officials "talked" in the past. I think everyone knows at least a bit what I mean.

Humility is to a certain degree a very good thing. Better than phrases like "piece of jewellery" (Dennis-Honda)...

[TyreSlip]

You can already tell from the words, look at Mercedes totally different in approach. It will be really tough in 2026, when there are these rumors they almost always come true

A bit like zero pod

Without comparison, in public, it's really just bluster and speculation.

That was a correlation error, but in my opinion we need to ask ourselves why even a team like Alpine decided to use the Mercedes engine.

The inner F1 circle is small, and information spreads fast among teams. They know what numbers are coming from the Mercedes engine.

[ispano6]

The Japanese aren't the best when it comes to diction and you always have the western media reading into the words, especially in a negative way. For Honda, the struggle is part of the process. The word for struggle in Japanese is kurou, and kurositeru translate to struggling but doesn't have the same connotation. It's always a struggle, it's always a challenge. What he means to say is that it's challenging. Challenging to meet power goals and packaging. Developing fuel, reducing weight, finding the right layout, and accommodating and compromising. Hopefully Andy Cowell is helping the Japanese understand the wording of the regulations to know how much they can go into the gray areas. This is their biggest struggle in my opinion and having Andy Cowell onboard is a huge benefit.