Aston Martin Honda 2026 speculation etc

[diffuser]

Yeah, I remember that passingly, I wasn't a close follower of the technical part of F1 back then. I'll take your word for it. I also think that it was too far back to be representative of today's program.

[zoroastar]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

[BassVirolla]

Yeah, I remember that passingly, I wasn't a close follower of the technical part of F1 back then. I'll take your word for it. I also think that it was too far back to be representative of today's program.

As much as I share the feeling that 20 years ago can't be representative, is quite understandable that Honda rarely hits the ground running without issues.

I hope this time is different.

[peewon]

In this German Interview, from Minute 3:00 onwards Ralf Bach dives into the engine Manufacturers in regards to Max Verstappen evaluating the situation in terms of competitiveness, upon which he at some point dives into honda at 3:15 and states :

"Ich hab jetzt gehört dass Honda einen ganz eigenen Weg geht was die Batterienschaltung betrifft für nächstes Jahr, also da sind Ferrari Ford und Mercedes auf einer Ebene ... Honda versucht da was anderes... Keine Ahnung ob das besser oder schlechter ist, es ist halt anders."


which translates to : "I've heard that Honda is taking a completely different approach when it comes to battery configuration for next year. So Ferrari, Ford, and Mercedes are on the same level... Honda is trying something else... No idea whether it's better or worse, it's just different."



Curious!

Anytime a team deviates from all other teams on a major design choice, you know its high variance. But where Honda has been as a team before their reconstitution in terms of staffing makes me a bit nervous for them. Also not huge track record of leading out the gate in a new regulation set.

This would also confirm the rumors of their PU being the one about which not much is known.

Please don't start that.
If you don't know what happened and only know the result, ask.

Honda have no problems with new regs. The problem was they decided that they wanted to get involved in 2013 when everyone else jumped in in 2011. So they had 2 years less time to get ready. That led to them getting a bunch of stuff wrong. The whole token regs back then restricted you from changing more than 2 things at one time but in a ICE everything works together. So you can change the heads but can only change the intake OR the exhaust but not both....Well you can't. That's why they didn't resolve their problem until the token regs were removed and they were able to redesign the PU from scratch.

There are a million variables in a project being successful or not. Most cannot be known from the outside and many cant be judged properly even from within. So you simplify the evaluation based on results. Since the 90's that Ive been watching, Honda have never been one of the better PUs on the grid with new regulations. In fact they have been sub par to begin with and gradually they improve. So the hybrid era is not an outlier, its the norm. They were also late to this project having to restaff after losing people to RBPT. They have been later by a year or two vs Mercedes and Ferrai in terms testing milestones for these regs as well.

That doesn't mean they cant get it right, it just makes me nervous. Specially when you add the fact that they are going on a development path alone.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

I think most companies are aiming to develop them since they will, in theory, offer an advantage in every way. Lighter and more compact, faster charging and discharging, able to handle higher power levels.

[diffuser]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

I think most companies are aiming to develop them since they will, in theory, offer an advantage in every way. Lighter and more compact, faster charging and discharging, able to handle higher power levels.

I can't find the battery regs from the FIA site but I seem to remember that they were pretty strict on the make up of the battery.

Can anyone find the battery regs?

[zoroastar]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

I think most companies are aiming to develop them since they will, in theory, offer an advantage in every way. Lighter and more compact, faster charging and discharging, able to handle higher power levels.

yeah i know honda arent the only ones developing them. just wondered if that could be the "different route" that is spoken of about in this interview. it seems like it would fit, given that guy wouldnt know the intimate details of a power units design. but hearing that honda is working with a different type of battery may make some since. but really its just a shot in the dark

[madridista]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

I think most companies are aiming to develop them since they will, in theory, offer an advantage in every way. Lighter and more compact, faster charging and discharging, able to handle higher power levels.

I can't find the battery regs from the FIA site but I seem to remember that they were pretty strict on the make up of the battery.

Can anyone find the battery regs?

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... df#page=27

[zoroastar]

i wonder if this could have anything to do with the solid state batteries ive read about. i know absolutely nothing about the tech except that its lighter, and new. and i think honda has been trying to develop them

https://global.honda/en/tech/All-solid- ... echnology/

I think most companies are aiming to develop them since they will, in theory, offer an advantage in every way. Lighter and more compact, faster charging and discharging, able to handle higher power levels.

I can't find the battery regs from the FIA site but I seem to remember that they were pretty strict on the make up of the battery.

Can anyone find the battery regs?

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 6-11_1.pdf

art 5 states that materials need to ok'd by the fia. i didnt see and list of battery elements in article 18 but i wasnt able to read through it very thoroughly. it seems like that would possibly be pretty open to allow different engine manufacturers to develop different paths for their road vehicles. could be wrong though. im gonna look through it more when i get a chance.

[zoroastar]

this is a pretty good article about the batteries. the guy states that that side of the rules is pretty wide open.

https://www.raceteq.com/articles/2025/0 ... tial-to-f1

“The rules and regulations are quite wide open so it's going to give a lot of flexibility to the Formula 1 teams about what technology they pick, whether it's lithium ion and what flavour of lithium ion - whether it's nickel manganese cobalt oxides, phosphate batteries silicon anodes, semi-solid state or whether they make the full leap to full solid state immediately, in the near future or the long term.

“That's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out.”

[diffuser]

this is a pretty good article about the batteries. the guy states that that side of the rules is pretty wide open.

https://www.raceteq.com/articles/2025/0 ... tial-to-f1

“The rules and regulations are quite wide open so it's going to give a lot of flexibility to the Formula 1 teams about what technology they pick, whether it's lithium ion and what flavour of lithium ion - whether it's nickel manganese cobalt oxides, phosphate batteries silicon anodes, semi-solid state or whether they make the full leap to full solid state immediately, in the near future or the long term.

“That's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out.”

Agreed.

[madridista]

In this German Interview, from Minute 3:00 onwards Ralf Bach dives into the engine Manufacturers in regards to Max Verstappen evaluating the situation in terms of competitiveness, upon which he at some point dives into honda at 3:15 and states :

"Ich hab jetzt gehört dass Honda einen ganz eigenen Weg geht was die Batterienschaltung betrifft für nächstes Jahr, also da sind Ferrari Ford und Mercedes auf einer Ebene ... Honda versucht da was anderes... Keine Ahnung ob das besser oder schlechter ist, es ist halt anders."


which translates to : "I've heard that Honda is taking a completely different approach when it comes to battery configuration for next year. So Ferrari, Ford, and Mercedes are on the same level... Honda is trying something else... No idea whether it's better or worse, it's just different."



Curious!

wow first ive heard of that. i hope they got it right

Taking into consideration that it doesnt seem to be a small design divergance (if it was we wouldnt have heard about it ), and the fact that we havent heard anything about them struggling (yet!), i assume that they are confident with the route that they have taken and (obviously) see a benefit in it. Im sure we would have heard about them struggling by now if they f-ed it up , as there is a lot of eyes on the team for next year, espec. with Hondas reputation in the context of new regs.


Worst case scen. i expect the PU to atleast be better than Ford and Audi, not far off of Mercedes and Ferrari.

[peewon]

Taking into consideration that it doesnt seem to be a small design divergance (if it was we wouldnt have heard about it ), and the fact that we havent heard anything about them struggling (yet!), i assume that they are confident with the route that they have taken and (obviously) see a benefit in it. Im sure we would have heard about them struggling by now if they f-ed it up , as there is a lot of eyes on the team for next year, espec. with Hondas reputation in the context of new regs.


Worst case scen. i expect the PU to atleast be better than Ford and Audi, not far off of Mercedes and Ferrari.

What we have heard so far about the Honda PU is that not much is known about it. Good or bad. There was a statement by the HRC president Koji Watanabe about "struggling with the PU" but a lot of people seem to think it was a language barrier moment and the reality is not that drastic. Its discussed here:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/stru ... challenge/

What we do know is that Honda was doing a lot of recruitment and reorganization to staff up for reentry as they lost a lot of people to the RBPT program.

Mercedes and Ferrari were way ahead of all other programs in terms of testing milestones for the new PUs. They both tested full scale versions on the test bench before the end of 2023.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-ne ... challenge/

In comparison, Honda was still testing 1 cylinder engines by mid 2024. So its fair to say that they are at least a year or even more behind in that sense.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hond ... /10605009/

Apart from all that, there have been many reports and statements from multiple team principals, drivers, reporters, etc. that Mercedes is comfortably ahead in terms of performance numbers.

Ferrari, like Aston Martin, has made a choice different from all other teams. It has opted for synthetic fuels rather than bio fuels. Also a make or break gamble. So there is some uncertainty with them too. Some people seem to think its a mistake but honestly that seems a bit premature.

RBPT and Audi are clearly way behind in development and also lack pedigree in this space so they are expected to struggle in the short term for sure.

So in conclusion, yes Honda should be better than the last two I mentioned. I would be shocked if they are better than Mercedes or even close. Ferrari is a bit of unknown too so hard to predict that but probably behind them as well or competitive with them. Fact that Hamilton moved there gives me some cause to think they might have something up their sleeve. So they might even surprise Mercedes.