F1 | Honda determined: “We're aiming for the title with Aston as early as 2026”

About four years ago Honda announced its intention to withdraw from Formula 1, thus ending, at least officially, the partnership with Red Bull. To allow the Milton Keynes team to maintain the same Power Units, it was then decided to freeze the engines, creating Red Bull Powertrain, a company that will also be responsible for building the units for the 2026 cycle.

Honda then decided to retrace its steps, albeit only partially, by collaborating with Red Bull through its HRC brand. In the meantime, however, the Anglo-Austrian team was forced to set up the Powertrain program, also entering into a partnership with Ford for 2026, which left the Japanese brand without a partner when it then decided to register for the next regulatory cycle.

After being contacted by several candidates, Honda was impressed by the ambition of Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, who in recent years has set up a state-of-the-art structure to be able to think about the title in the future. It is not just a question of infrastructure, completely renovated with a new factory, its own wind tunnel and a simulator redesigned from scratch, but also of personnel, given that in the last period new engineers have arrived ready to support the team ambitions.

In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe said Aston Martin's oft-mentioned world title goal is also shared by Honda.

When asked what Honda's ambitions are with its new partner, Watanabe responded clearly, underlining that the hope is to win the world championship as early as 2026, the first year of the new technical cycle: “Becoming world champion starting from 2026”.

“We know that it will be very difficult and that it is not that easy, but we need valid goals to put our best effort together with Aston Martin. So, that's why together with Stroll and Toshihiro Mibe [CEO e presidente di Honda], we set the goal of simply aiming for the world championship that year. But, in reality, it's not that easy.”

The rendering of the new Aston Martin factory in Silverstone

Photo credit: Aston Martin Racing

To evaluate whether Aston Martin and Honda will have all the ingredients to challenge the title, Watanabe added that the next few months will be fundamental to understand what the two parties lack to be in a position to achieve their objectives: “We are probably missing something, but we have to understand what Honda is missing and what Aston Martin is missing. It's an honest conversation to become a world-class team together.”

Honda has never hidden that it was impressed by Stroll's efforts to make Aston Martin one of the most competitive teams. The visit of the representatives of the Japanese brand to the structures under construction in Silverstone was also fundamental for reaching the agreement, where they were pleasantly surprised, understanding how serious the project was.

“After we registered as a power unit supplier for 2026, some other teams contacted us because they were interested in working with Honda. Then we talked to these parties and made a decision,” he explained.

“Honda was very impressed by Mr Stroll's strong passion and his strong leadership which leads him to want to fight for the world championship in 2026. They have invested a lot of money to establish the factory in Silverstone. We went to visit them to see the factory which was under construction.

RA621H, the Power Unit that led to the victory of the world title

Photo credit: Motorsport.com / Japan

“Several times we have had meetings with Martin Whitmarsh and Mike Krack. They are very open and the whole team works in the same direction, it is a united team. It is a very positive image for us.”

“At the same time, they also think that Honda is a good partner to become world champions. We have already started a technical working group and a steering committee meeting to discuss some important issues that we can improve.”

Last week, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso announced that he will remain with the team in the Honda era, at least until 2026, rebuilding a partnership that ended abruptly seven years ago.