Adrian Newey reveals harsh Honda truth and progress ‘disappointment’

Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey says Honda is disappointed with its lack of progress since returning to Formula 1 this season. 

Newey was scathing in his assessment of Honda at the start of the season when the Japanese manufacturer was dogged by poor performance and reliability as it spent the early rounds battling severe vibration issues. 

Honda has made progress following the introduction of upgrades to its power unit, which alongside aerodynamic updates, has boosted Aston Martin’s competitiveness somewhat. 

While Aston Martin no longer has the outright slowest package in 2026, the Silverstone-based squad remains a lowly 10th in the constructors’ championship standings, only ahead of F1 newcomers Cadillac. 

"I think it's fair to say that Honda have probably been a little bit disappointed with how much progress they have managed to make this year,” Newey said as he took a rather diplomatic stance in Friday’s FIA press conference at the United States Grand Prix. 

"But as always, or as is so often the case in that situation, it only strengthens resolve to go forward in the future. The future is obviously the important bit for both companies.

"They are very determined. These things don't change overnight, but they have a lot of good people, a lot of good processes now in place.”

Newey conceded Honda is currently behind where it was when it started its journey with Red Bull back in 2019, though he pointed out an important caveat. 

“At the moment, in all truth, Honda are a little bit behind where Red Bull, as the works team, RBR, picked up Honda in ’19,” he said. 

“But that obviously was four seasons after they first came back in ’15. So, this is the first year back in. 

“They are a great company. I have every confidence that they will accelerate quickly and understand the problems of these particular PU regulations.”

Newey acknowledged that the deficit Aston Martin currently has in F1 is “fairly clear”, but stopped short of pointing the finger directly at Honda. 

"[In terms of] relative deficit between chassis and engine...it's probably not for me to say," he continued. "I think if people look at the GPS [data], then you can start to get a much better picture from that.

“Moving forward for 2027, then that’s really, as we discussed earlier. Honda - there’s a lot of energy and projects on the way now that perhaps are in their early stages of development, but we see a lot of promise from those. 

“Too early to comment on exactly where the PU will be at the start of the season and whether then, assuming it’s allowed under the PUAC [Power Unit Advisory Committee], there will be further development for what will be race eight at the end of the first period.”