Honda’s New Power Unit Debuts in Aston Martin Filming Day

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123Helmets Editorial Team

Power Unit Update

Honda’s revised power unit ran on track for the first time during an Aston Martin filming day at the Hungaroring on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, setting up its planned race debut at the Dutch Grand Prix in just over three weeks.

Key Takeaways

Honda’s new-specification power unit ran for the first time in the AMR26 during a filming day at the Hungaroring on Wednesday, 29 July 2026.

The unit is scheduled for its race debut at the Dutch Grand Prix in just over three weeks, following the summer shutdown.

Aston Martin brought 16 developments to last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, helping Fernando Alonso reach Q2 for the first time this season before finishing P13, with team mate Lance Stroll classified P14.

Trackside General Manager Shintaro Orihara confirmed the running order, and Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack described a closer working relationship between Aston Martin and Honda after a difficult start to 2026.

Filming Day Debut: Honda’s New Engine Hits the Track

Honda’s new-specification power unit completed its first on-track running during an Aston Martin filming day at the Hungaroring on Wednesday, 29 July 2026. The session came directly after the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend and just before the sport’s summer shutdown, giving Honda a short but useful window to gather data before the unit’s planned race introduction.

A spokesperson for Honda’s Formula 1 operation confirmed to F1.com that the new engine had indeed run in the car during the filming day, with focus now shifting to further track time at Zandvoort. The Dutch Grand Prix sits just over three weeks away, making it the target event for the unit’s competitive debut.

Filming days are limited in scope compared to a race weekend, but they allow teams and manufacturers to check installation, systems integration and baseline reliability away from the pressure of a grid. For Honda, the Hungaroring outing was the first real-world confirmation that the revised power unit is ready to progress toward a points-scoring environment.

Hungary Progress: Aston Martin’s 16-Part Upgrade Pays Off

Aston Martin introduced 16 separate developments to the AMR26 at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the most extensive single-round upgrade the team has brought this season. The package touched multiple areas of the car and was designed to work alongside the incoming Honda power unit changes rather than in isolation.

The upgrade delivered an immediate result. Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time in 2026, a marker of progress for a team that had struggled to extract pace from the AMR26 earlier in the season. Alonso went on to finish the Grand Prix in P13, with team mate Lance Stroll classified one place behind in P14.

Neither result put Aston Martin near the points, but the qualifying step and the underlying pace gain were treated internally as evidence that the chassis direction is now aligned with where Honda’s engine program is heading. That alignment is the reason the new power unit is being introduced now rather than held back for a future season.

Krack and Orihara on Aston Martin-Honda Cooperation

Mike Krack, Aston Martin’s Chief Trackside Officer, has described a marked improvement in how the team and Honda now work together after a difficult start to the 2026 partnership. Speaking about the early-season friction, Krack explained that both parties chose to address it directly rather than assign blame.

Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer, gave his own account of the Hungarian weekend before confirming the filming day plan. He said the team had been supporting Aston Martin with power unit integration through the round and had collected data that would help ahead of the next event, before confirming that the new-spec power unit would run in the AMR26 for the first time during the Wednesday filming day, ahead of its formal introduction in the Netherlands.

The tone from both sides points to a working relationship that has moved past its initial teething issues and is now focused on execution: getting the new engine validated, raced, and iterated before the closing stretch of the 2026 championship.

Zandvoort Target: Race Debut at the Dutch Grand Prix

Honda is targeting the Dutch Grand Prix for the race debut of its new-specification power unit, roughly three weeks after the Hungaroring filming day. The timeline places the introduction directly after the summer shutdown, giving Honda’s engineers a period to review filming day data before committing the unit to a full race weekend.

Zandvoort’s tight, high-speed layout will be a demanding first race test for any new power unit specification, particularly given the circuit’s low-drag requirements and its sensitivity to driveability through the dune-lined final sector. Aston Martin will be looking for the new unit to convert the chassis gains shown in Hungary into a cleaner run through Q2 and beyond.

Both parties on staying at the Hungaroring after the race for extended track time. Aston Martin, alongside Alpine and Audi, remained at the circuit to assist Pirelli with tyre testing before the Wednesday filming day, adding further mileage to a busy post-race program.

What Fans Saw Trackside in Hungary

The Hungaroring weekend gave fans a close look at Aston Martin’s most extensive AMR26 update of the season, running in its race-ready form across Fernando Alonso’s and Lance Stroll’s cars before the extra filming day mileage that followed. With 16 developments fitted at once, the car’s aerodynamic surfaces and bodywork carried a visibly different profile compared to earlier rounds, a detail keenly noted by trackside photographers and long-time followers of the team’s livery evolution through 2026.

For collectors who follow how a season’s helmet and livery designs track a team’s on-track story, weekends like this one, a major upgrade, a qualifying breakthrough and a manufacturer’s engine debut arriving in close sequence, are the kind of moments that tend to define a season’s visual record.

“In Hungary, we have been supporting the team with the power unit integration. We’ve also been able to collect vital data, which will help us come the next race. We will now take the important step of introducing our new-spec power unit in the Netherlands. Before then, during Wednesday’s filming day, we will run the new engine in the AMR26 for the first time, before the summer shutdown commences.”

— Shintaro Orihara, Honda Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer

“It’s easy to point the finger, but we sat together and we said, ‘We are in this together. We need to work through it.'”

— Mike Krack, Aston Martin Chief Trackside Officer

FAQ

Q: When did Honda’s new power unit first run on track?
Honda’s new-specification power unit ran for the first time during an Aston Martin filming day at the Hungaroring on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, following the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

Q: When will Honda’s new power unit make its race debut?
Honda is targeting the Dutch Grand Prix, roughly three weeks after the Hungaroring filming day, for the power unit’s first competitive race outing with Aston Martin.

Q: How did Aston Martin perform at the Hungarian Grand Prix?
Aston Martin brought a 16-part upgrade to the AMR26 that helped Fernando Alonso reach Q2 for the first time in 2026; Alonso finished the race P13, with Lance Stroll one place behind in P14.

Q: Why did Aston Martin stay at the Hungaroring after the race?
Aston Martin remained at the circuit, alongside Alpine and Audi, to support Pirelli with tyre testing before conducting the Wednesday filming day that gave Honda’s new power unit its first laps.

Q: What did Mike Krack say about the Aston Martin-Honda relationship?
Mike Krack said the team and Honda addressed early-season friction directly, describing a shared commitment to working through difficulties rather than assigning blame, and pointing to a smoother collaboration since.