Positive news for Adrian Newey as Aston Martin partner tipped by paddock veteran to impress in 2026

In what is positive news for Adrian Newey and Aston Martin, paddock veteran Otmar Szafnauer has backed Honda to have the best power unit in 2026. The Japanese automotive giant has had a strange relationship with F1 in general. It dominated the sport in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 2009, Honda left F1 during the economic downturn, and the team was sold to Ross Brawn for one pound. That team used the car, which was built by Honda's resources, and won both titles that season. The Japanese brand returned to the sport in 2015 and had a shoddy entry to the championship with the worst power unit on the grid.

Things did change when Red Bull decided to take a punt on Honda in 2019. The partnership tasted its first success in 2021 when Max Verstappen won the title. Since then, their partnership has accumulated two Constructors and three more Drivers championships.

Honda will partner with Aston Martin for 2026, and the squad already has Adrian Newey working on the car. Talking about the power unit, Otmar Szafnauer backed the Japanese brand to succeed. He told PlanetF1:

“If I look back at what they did with these regulations when they came in with McLaren, again, they didn’t start off with the best powertrain and ended up with the best powertrain. They will absolutely end up with the best powertrain. They work hard. They have the resources to do it, they have the infrastructure to do it."

He added:

“They have smart powertrain engineers. And one thing Honda has always prided itself on is being a powertrain company, a powertrain-led company. So every CEO at Honda Motor Company has been an engine engineer. They’ve had no other CEOs other than engine engineers.”

Otmar Szafnauer on his own experience of working with Aston Martin's power unit partner

Otmar Szafnauer has previously worked with BAR Honda during the early 2000s and has experienced how the brand executes things. Taking an instance of how Aston Martin's power unit partner showed improvement during those times, Szafnaeur said:

“They’ve achieved great success with Red Bull. They’ve won another Drivers Championship [in 2024] and Honda, in the time that I’ve worked with them, has been the quickest to develop themselves out of a hole."

He added:

“In 2000, when I first started working with them when I was at British American Racing, they didn’t have the lightest or most powerful power train in Formula 1. They were a bit lacking when they first came back. By 2004, they had the highest output and lowest weight. So it took them four years to go from not so competitive to the best.”

Aston Martin, on its part, is going to leave the final dependence on Mercedes as it aligns with Honda. The 2026 F1 season is going to be interesting, as that would be the time when the Japanese manufacturer also leaves Red Bull after all the success that the partnership has achieved.