Aston Martin, what a fool
State-of-the-art facilities, Lawrence’s money Strollthe genius of Adrian Newey and hunger driving Fernando Alonso: everything seemed set for a 2026 as protagonists, and instead Aston Martin stumbled into an international fool. The Silverstone team started the World Championship with disastrous FP1s: the cause is always the same, that Honda engine which should have been a plus (Aston Martin being the only customer) and which instead risks destroying Stroll’s dreams.
Newey’s words
In Melbourne, Newey revealed important details about Honda’s difficulties. Until a few months ago, in Aston Martin, in fact, no one was aware of how far behind the Japanese were: “When the contract was signed, we were unaware of their lack of experience. We only realized this in November last yearwhen Lawrence, Andy Cowell and I went to Tokyo to discuss rumors that were starting to suggest that their original power target wouldn’t be met for the first race. Only there it emerged that many of the original members of the team were no longer there“.
Newey’s statements are not flattering either for Honda or – evidently – for Stroll, who three years ago (well before the arrival of the Brit) would have stipulated the supply without ascertaining the real competitiveness of the Japanese. The designer is referring to the indiscretion that we reported to you a month ago: by withdrawing from F1 at the end of 2021, handing over know-how and intellectual property to Red Bull and returning only between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, Honda would have wasted time and resources.
“By the time they reformed, most of the original group had disbanded to focus on solar panels or whatever. Of that group, I would say, only 30% remain. The remaining 70% are actually new to Formula 1“he added.”Honda doesn’t have the experience it had previously. Furthermore, when it returned in 2023, it was the first year of introducing the budget cap for engines, while all their rivals had developed in 2021 and 2022 continuously, with their own teams and without budget caps. They started way behind and unfortunately struggled to catch up“.
