Honda keep key part of F1 2026 engine secret as first images revealed

Honda have revealed the first images of their new engine that will power Aston Martin’s F1 cars this year, but kept a key part secret.

The Japanese manufacturer is formally returning to F1 full-time this season and will exclusively supply Aston Martin for the world championship’s rules reset.

Honda officially left F1 at the end of 2021 but continued to build and maintain engines for both Red Bull teams until the end of 2025 while the new Red Bull Powertrains division was set-up.

Images of Honda’s 2026 power unit were unveiled during a launch event in Tokyo that officially kick-started the new partnership. As well as Honda executives, Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll and F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali were in attendance.

Despite being willing to showcase their new RA626H power unit in what was an unprecedented approach, Honda intriguingly blurred out parts of the image to keep a key part of the design hidden from rivals.

It was part of the lower assembly area of the power unit which was purposely concealed.

Honda on a ‘very short timeline’

Honda Racing Corporation President Koji Watanabe said the manufacturer is on a “very short timeline” as reliability testing for their 2026 engine continues.

"The regulations in 2026 are very challenging," Watanabe said. "It's difficult. It's challenging. That's why we would like to take it on.

"Currently, Sakura is also working hard on the reliability testing, and working on a bench testing, and we want to really bring onto in-vehicle testing.

"We are running on a very short timeline, but we want to make sure that we are fully prepared for it.”

Honda already previously admitted that “not everything is going well” with their return to F1.

"There's a huge amount of development testing going on, both at Silverstone [at Aston Martin's factory] and the same in Sakura,” added Aston Martin’s chief strategy officer Andy Cowell.

"And we've set tough targets. We want to win, but we understand that Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, and it's difficult, it's challenging, and you focus on your issues.

"It's very rare that engineering organisations celebrate successes in the factory. So we are working hard on all the issues that we need to resolve.

"And we will go to Barcelona, and we will learn about the car on the track, and we will go to Bahrain twice, and we'll learn about the car on the track. And then we'll end up in Melbourne at the first race."