Exclusive: Honda F1 seeks to be Aston Martin's engine by 2026
Aston Martin studies separating from Mercedes and ceasing to be a client team to be the main team of Honda from Formula 1 2026.
When the FIA made official the names of the six power unit manufacturers that have agreed to join the 2026 engine regulation on February 3rd, only one surprise name emerged, that of Honda. Now, we have been able to learn that the Japanese manufacturer wants to join Aston Martin which would mean, if it is still in the top flight that year, the reunion between Fernando Alonso and Honda.
After having faced the hybrid challenge since 2015, the Japanese manufacturer experienced very difficult moments until its resurrection together with Red Bull. A rematch that they enjoyed only in part, since on the eve of the 2021 world title came the surprising news that their program would be stopped.
Honda continued and continues to supply power units to the Milton Keynes team, but what made the Japanese manufacturer's policy even more inexplicable was the official agreement between Red Bull and Ford.
The result is that, to this day, the presence of Honda at the start of the 2026 Championship remains unknown in the absence of an agreement with a team. The available options are not that many; Sauber (which will be Audi) will go from a customer team to a factory team, leaving Williams, McLaren and Aston Martin as possible opportunities.
According to information collected by Motorsport.com, Honda's top management is currently only moving in one direction, and that is Aston Martin. It is no mystery that the ambitions of the team owner, Lawrence Stroll, are to take the team to compete for the world championship, and the agreement with Mercedes, which has been vital for the growth of the structure, may be a limitation in the long term. It is difficult for a customer team to prevail over its works team, especially if (as is the case now) it inherits so many parts from the car.
With that in mind, for Aston Martin the prospect of an exclusive deal with Honda is anything but a risky move. There is already a mechanism to facilitate the first conversations, and it is Martin Whitmarsh, current CEO of the team and in the past team manager of McLaren, when the Woking team closed the agreement with Honda.
There are several aspects involved that can make the negotiation less smooth than expected, but none seems insurmountable. Lawrence Stroll owns full ownership of the Formula 1 team, as well as a significant (although not majority) stake in the Aston Martin Lagonda holding company, which makes the road cars.
Shareholders also include Mercedes itself, and obviously moving to Honda in Formula 1, even if it is in fact an isolated context from the manufacturer, could create some tension.
It is not, however, an indissoluble link between the Formula 1 team and the parent company, but rather an agreement put in place by Stroll after the purchase of Racing Point to give the team a new and sellable image. An important step at the time that loses relevance in the face of an agreement with an official manufacturer like Honda.
For Aston Martin, the scenario of an agreement with the Japanese manufacturer would entail several new challenges, starting with the independence that today the agreement with Mercedes compensates.
It means setting up its own wind tunnel (the one in Brackley is still in use today) and independently manufacturing the gearbox and rear end of the car, which currently come from Mercedes along with the power unit. If the challenge is accepted, there will be everything at Silverstone to aspire to absolute goals, and considering the ambitions of Lawrence Stroll, the scenario is not at all unlikely.
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