Honda defends itself
The Japanese GP is the home race of Honda HRC. Surely the Japanese giant would have preferred to get there with other premises, also because as a supplier of Red Bull Honda has won the last 4 editions of the race held on the Suzuka circuit thanks to Max Verstappen, in any case HRC number one Koji Watanabe in the press conference wanted to underline some aspects also to defend the honor of the company he represents, painted by Adrian Newey as the sole person responsible for the non-competitiveness of Aston Martin at the beginning of 2026.
Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have been complaining about the strong tires since testing vibrations to which they are subject, Adrian Newey in Australia he even went so far as to talk about the risk of permanent damage to Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll even brought it up electric chair. Vibrations are certainly an objective fact, but Watanabe highlighted that Honda is only partially responsible for this phenomenon: “We started development of the 2026 power unit later than our competitors – Watanabe’s words – in the tests on the dynamic bench the vibrations have an acceptable level, then once the power unit is integrated with the chassis the vibrations are amplified and are decidedly more intense than in the tests on the dynamic bench. We are working closely with Aston Martin Aramco to solve the problem, not only of the power unit but also of the chassis, the problem cannot be solved by working only on the power unit.”
Regarding the recent developments in Aston Martin’s organizational chart which will welcome sooner than later Jonathan Wheatley as team principal, Watanabe declared that as far as Honda is concerned, the head of the Aston Martin project is always Adrian Newey: “I believe that Adrian is still the representative of the team, I have no worries about it.”
