2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[SSJ4]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

[FW17]

https://x.com/Nachez98/status/207919938 ... t%3Asrcdoc

franco nugnes keeps saying honda engineers behind the scenes are expecting 50 hp. he writes for autosport for what its worth.

Nugnes is pure clickbait, wouldn't trust a word.

Let's be real, where would 50 HP come from? Did Honda's engineers suddenly figure out all of their issues and make them right in 6 months after having not realised for years before? I would temper my expectations, engines have long lead times and there's only so much you can do in 6 months. Improvement? Yes. Revolution? No.

Maybe they got their TJI and rapid combustion technology to work at 16:1 compression and vegetable oil

[Badger]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

[mzso]

The other teams are not slow because of the PU.

Of course not. They have the same PU. But the telemetry shows that they dont have the same level of energy recovery and deployment though. Mclaren is nowhere near Mercedes on power hungry tracks like Spa but competitive in places like Hungary.

Which doesn't seem to be a Mercedes thing. Russel also suffered from lack of power. But on the teams' press conference the representative claimed the issues are solved for the whole fleet. (That was of course before Russel's miserable start though...)

[diffuser]

Honda F1 website posted pre-season that they were having a matching problem with their new fuel supplier and lubricant supplier. They later called their combustion immature. Honda had an excellent working partnership with ExxonMobil and it was thanks to Kotaro Hashimoto who formulated the winning blends, who now is Chief Engineer heading Honda's Innovative Research Excellence Power Unit & Energy. It is not a coincidence that RBPT have top combustion performance as they are using ExxonMobil's expertise, that which they amassed through their partnership with Honda. Now Aramco is the new partner that Honda is working with. Synergy is everything.

Aramco is a debutante to F1 fuel and fuel quality and molecular behavior is utmost important in this new era.
Prior to this year Aramco had only been supplying F2 and F3 fuel. An engine's combustion is only as good as the fuel it combusts and how it combusts. I've been translating Honda articles for many years here, 300 upvotes worth of content (those votes magically erased because it wasn't in the "technical" part of the forum) that referred to Honda's publications about their fuel development for ExxonMobil, the personnel involved and credited for having made breakthroughs for the F1 team. I've been following information and the sources who are back at Honda doing what they did during the RedBull era. The engineer(s) who improved Honda's fuel for ExxonMobil and changed the shape of the combustion are thankfully hard at it at Honda guiding the next generation engineers.

Who cares what Exxon has done in the past? They manipulated fuel that came out of the ground. The fact is, they had never worked with sustainable fuels before, so there was zero carryover between the two. Exxon was good at building shovels but had never built an airplane.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Aramco had been working with sustainable fuels for years. Honda had never worked with sustainable fuels before. If there was a problem with combustion using sustainable fuels, it wasn't the fuel—it was Honda's lack of experience with sustainable fuels.

Yes, sustainable fuel is not the same as last year's fuel. That's true for everyone on the grid. The change in fuel, the reduction in maximum compression, and the restrictions on the sensors Honda had been using to optimize combustion meant they had to completely change their approach. You couldn't just go out with the same setup as in 2025.

Honda had a bunch of people with no experience working on the project, while Aramco had seasoned engineers with multiple PhDs and years of expertise in sustainable fuels. Honda was still in primary school by comparison. They never figured it out.

Maybe now that many of the experienced members of the old team have returned, they've finally been able to crack it.

[mzso]

Posts like the one a couple of posts above are why Honda fans who've come to Aston Martin Honda, are touchy about things that Aston Martin fans who've come to Aston Martin Honda (yes, this is a new partnership), say. There's quite an undercurrent of when the car goes well, it's because of the great chassis in spite of terrible Honda, and when it goes badly, it's because terrible Honda are so bad all is lost. It's even been said no chassis development could realistically be done whilst the engine was so bad (so how about all the current updates?). Of course the engine is very poor, and yes it is a concern because engine development and lead-times are long (and updates can only be made when permission is granted). But, the chassis was very poor too, the drivers have been complaining, and the team even said approximately half the deficit comes from the chassis, but these facts are glossed over or often not even mentioned at all. The team has a works engine deal, with the company that powered four drivers championships, which were the only ones the Mercedes didn't win in the turbo hybrid engine era. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but don't underestimate Honda. How about wishing them well, and seeing how it goes?

These people are impatient and don't appreciate the process Honda goes through to achieve success, which usually starts with failure. Hence why I no longer translate or bring new information. I'm looking forward to a talk by former Honda Managing Director Masashi Yamamoto, who was the Honda consultant for RBPT, on the latest Honda F1 developments. He is going to have some interesting things to say, always does.

Too bad, because that's far more reliable than the opinions you otherwise share.

[Jambier]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

Engines are about 1000hp so yes 10% / 90HP seems right

If they are still 50hp down after the upgrade it will still be difficult to do something.

Maybe for 2027 being only 20-30hp down and close the gap in 2028

[Badger]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

Engines are about 1000hp so yes 10% / 90HP seems right

If they are still 50hp down after the upgrade it will still be difficult to do something.

Maybe for 2027 being only 20-30hp down and close the gap in 2028

All the energy ultimately comes from the ICE so I’m not sure how much sense it makes to count the K in terms of power. It’s just a number on a piece of paper unless you have the energy to deploy it, which requires ICE power that can be harvested. Aston gets some harvesting regardless and they can deploy that early on the straight which is most efficient, so maybe the real HP deficit is somewhere in between, around 70 HP.

[Jambier]

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

Engines are about 1000hp so yes 10% / 90HP seems right

If they are still 50hp down after the upgrade it will still be difficult to do something.

Maybe for 2027 being only 20-30hp down and close the gap in 2028

All the energy ultimately comes from the ICE so I’m not sure how much sense it makes to count the K in terms of power. It’s just a number on a piece of paper unless you have the energy to deploy it, which requires ICE power that can be harvested. Aston gets some harvesting regardless and they can deploy that early on the straight which is most efficient, so maybe the real HP deficit is somewhere in between, around 70 HP.

I think we should think "average available power x number of seconds per lap", but very difficult to know that.
I hope the increase in ICE will help to harvest more and deploy more / for a longer time per lap on electrical side

[mzso]

Maybe now that many of the experienced members of the old team have returned, they've finally been able to crack it.

The best hope Honda and AM has. If true, maybe the experienced F1 engine people with potentially input* from Cowell can deliver a notable leap in performance. Maybe they found a think or two the less experienced people missed.

*Otherwise what would be the point of having him there. Honda did consult with external experts before with the previous PU formula, Ilmor was mentioned a couple of times.

[Jambier]

Anyway if they reduce the gap from 1.5 to 1s on the engine side, it is just enough to be in Q3 and fight for last points, but not more.