Honda outlines one essential condition to Aston Martin in order to become a “top-class team” and fight for F1 titles

Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe recently mentioned one area where both the Japanese giants and Aston Martin need to work to become a championship-winning team.

Before signing with the Silverstone-based team for 2026, Honda worked with Red Bull from 2019 to 2021, during which they developed some of the most powerful engines. This partnership allowed the Austrian team to challenge Mercedes and end their dominant era in the 2021 F1 season. After 2021, Honda withdrew their active operations in F1 but agreed to supply power units to Red Bull until 2025.

Honda will once again be entering F1 as a power unit supplier in 2026 when the FIA will implement new power unit regulations. Aston Martin F1 team owner Lawrence Stroll managed to lure the Japanese automotive giants to deliver power units to his team.

Speaking about the future partnership with Motorsport.com, Koji Watanabe explained that for the British team and Honda to succeed in 2026, they need to have an open and honest conversation with each other about any issues they are facing. He said that both the power unit supplier and customer team need to tell each other in which area they are lacking performance.

"Probably we're missing something [right now], but we have to tell each other what is missing. From an Aston Martin point of view what is missing on the Honda side and also what is missing on the Aston Martin side. That is an honest conversation to become a top-class team together," HRC president said.

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Honda on how Lawrence Stroll convinced them to provide power units to Aston Martin from 2026

Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe recently explained how Aston Martin's boss, Lawrence Stroll, convinced the Japanese giants to partner with his team and provide them with power units from 2026.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, he explained that Honda was impressed by the passion expressed by Stroll Sr. Watanabe also underlined the team's commitment to F1 which can be seen in their new project and new factory.

"Honda was very impressed by Mr. Stroll's passion and strong leadership to fight for the world championship in 2026. They are investing a lot of money in the new factory in Silverstone. That factory was of course still under construction, but we visited there several times," he said.

Lawrence Stroll's team launched their new factory in Silverstone in 2023 and is now planning to complete their own wind tunnel by the end of 2024.