Why Honda’s F1 Project Differs From Its Red Bull Years

Key Takeaways

A Different Honda Behind Aston Martin’s 2026 Power Unit

Honda’s Formula 1 workforce for its 2026 partnership with Aston Martin is substantially different from the group that built championship-winning power units for Red Bull. The technical partnership between Honda and Aston Martin was agreed in 2023, but the composition of the engineering team supplying that power unit changed significantly in the years that followed, according to comments made public in 2026.

Adrian Newey, now serving in a leadership capacity at Aston Martin, addressed the topic during the FIA team principals’ press conference at the 2026 season-opening Melbourne Grand Prix weekend. Newey spoke about Honda’s battery development issues and admitted his own team principal duties had pulled him away from his design work to some degree. He also joked, with visible exaggeration, that Honda had spent the intervening period mostly working on solar panels rather than power unit development.

The November 2025 Discovery That Surprised Aston Martin

Aston Martin’s leadership only fully understood how different Honda’s F1 team makeup had become in November 2025, roughly two years after the technical partnership was first agreed in 2023. That timeline raises questions about how much due diligence was carried out when the deal was struck, since a multi-year technical alliance of this scale would typically involve close scrutiny of the partner’s engineering personnel from the outset.

The gap between the 2023 agreement and the November 2025 realization suggests Aston Martin either underestimated the internal churn at Honda or was not given full visibility into staffing changes during the early years of the partnership. Either way, the disclosure came out publicly only once the 2026 season had begun, when Newey raised it at the Melbourne press conference.

Orihara’s Explanation: Honda’s Staff Rotation Philosophy

Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara says the personnel changes are tied directly to how the company operates as a whole, not to any single decision about the Aston Martin project. “Honda is a very unique company. So, always, how to say, staff is moving between road car projects and the Formula 1 project,” Orihara told Autosport.

Orihara explained that during the last development cycle, Honda brought in a mix of highly talented staff from its road car divisions alongside people who had previously worked on the Red Bull-era Formula 1 project. “Last year, we had a lot of, not new people, but some highly talented people coming from road car projects and some others who had worked within the Red Bull project,” he said. He added that Honda deliberately develops talent through its Formula 1 project so the wider company can benefit from the knowledge gained, describing it as a core part of Honda’s approach to racing.

Newey’s Melbourne Remarks and the Reality Check

Adrian Newey’s comments at the season-opening Melbourne weekend amounted to a public reality check on Honda’s current capabilities compared with its Red Bull years. Beyond the joke about solar panels, Newey’s acknowledgment of Honda’s battery problems pointed to real technical hurdles facing the power unit side of the Aston Martin partnership as the 2026 season got underway.

Newey also conceded that his dual role as team principal had, to some extent, taken his attention away from pure design work. Combined with his disclosure about Honda’s changed personnel, the Melbourne press conference offered one of the clearest public windows yet into the internal challenges Aston Martin has faced in integrating Honda’s power unit program for the 2026 rules cycle.

What the Personnel Shift Means for Aston Martin’s 2026 Campaign

Honda’s rebuilt Formula 1 workforce lacks some of the specific single-seater development experience that defined its Red Bull-winning era, based on Orihara’s own account of the staffing changes. Bringing in road car engineers alongside veterans of the Red Bull program was intended to spread Formula 1 knowledge across Honda’s broader business, but it also meant the 2026 power unit project began this cycle without the same depth of dedicated racing experience that existed during the championship years with Red Bull.

For Aston Martin, the practical consequence is a power unit partner that looks organizationally different from the one many inside the paddock assumed they were signing in 2023. Whether that translates into on-track performance issues through the rest of the 2026 season remains to be seen, but the gap between the 2023 agreement and the November 2025 clarification has already become part of the story around Aston Martin’s return to competitiveness.

FAQ

Q: When was the Honda-Aston Martin technical partnership agreed?
The technical partnership between Honda and Aston Martin was agreed in 2023, several years before the personnel differences from Honda’s Red Bull era became fully clear to Aston Martin’s leadership.

Q: When did Aston Martin realize Honda’s F1 team had changed?
Aston Martin’s leadership only fully understood how different Honda’s Formula 1 personnel setup had become in November 2025, despite the technical deal having been signed back in 2023.

Q: Why did Honda’s Formula 1 personnel change so much?
Honda rotates staff between its road car divisions and its Formula 1 project as a matter of company philosophy, according to trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara, so the wider business benefits from knowledge gained in racing.

Q: What did Adrian Newey say about Honda at the Melbourne press conference?
Adrian Newey discussed Honda’s battery problems, admitted his team principal duties had distracted him from design work, and joked that Honda had mainly been working on solar panels during the intervening years.

Q: Does Honda’s current F1 team still include people from its Red Bull years?
Yes, Shintaro Orihara said Honda’s recent intake combined highly talented road car staff with some personnel who had previously worked within the Red Bull project, alongside newer recruits.

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