Engine manufacturer Honda on Tuesday proudly unveiled its new power unit for the 2026 season. The Japanese maker will, for the first time this year, supply power units to Aston Martin, but remains cautiously optimistic about the British squad’s chances of running at the front. “We may still struggle,” Honda boss Koji Watanabe explains, referring to the new, demanding technical regulations for 2026.
In 2026 Honda will officially join forces with Aston Martin for the first time. The British team will run the RA626H, the brand‑new power unit from the Japanese manufacturer for the upcoming regulations cycle. At Honda’s launch event in Tokyo on Tuesday there wasn’t unbridled optimism. Honda chief Koji Watanabe is already tempering expectations for Aston Martin’s prospects in 2026.
“When we race, of course we’re determined to win,” Watanabe said at the Tokyo launch. “The rules for 2026 are, from a technical standpoint, a huge challenge, and we may find it difficult.” Like others — including Max Verstappen — the boss admits he remains in the dark about how the teams will stack up next season. “At this stage, before any on‑track testing has been carried out, we don’t know how large the gap to our rivals is, so we’ll have to wait until testing begins. In the long term we aim to be in the fight for the championship.”
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Honda is currently most concerned about the internal combustion engine. “Electrification is proceeding according to plan,” Tetsushi Kakuda, Honda’s F1 project leader, said. “That does not necessarily apply to the combustion engine. Ultimately a lot depends on the available development time. Taking that into account, we believe we’ve done everything we could.” The first test days — and thus Honda’s moment of truth — will take place at the end of January in Barcelona.
