Ahead of the Barcelona shakedown and official livery reveal for the 2026 F1 season, a special event in Tokyo on Tuesday saw Chief Strategy Officer Andy Cowell shed some light on Aston Martin’s preparations and objectives for the upcoming campaign as they celebrated the beginning of their new partnership with Honda.
Having previously been powered by Mercedes engines, Aston Martin have joined forces with Honda as a works partner from the 2026 season onwards. This collaboration marks a crucial step forward in the Silverstone-based squad’s lofty championship-winning aspirations.
Honda power units were originally on course to disappear from the sport when the Japanese automotive brand announced their planned retreat from F1 in 2020. They formally left as an active manufacturer at the end of 2021 but agreed to build and maintain the engines for the Red Bull teams until the end of the ground effect era.
In the meantime, Honda struck a fresh deal with Aston Martin to provide them with power units as F1 undergoes a radical technical overhaul in 2026 under the sweeping new regulations. The British team’s 2026 engine, the RA626H, has now been unveiled at the aforementioned Tokyo event.
Cowell on what Aston Martin and Honda are up to ahead of 2026 F1 season
Speaking at the launch on January 20, Aston Martin’s former Team Principal and current Chief Strategy Officer Andy Cowell revealed how last-minute evaluations and adaptations are underway at both the team’s base and Honda’s R&D facilities in Sakura as they gear up for a robust schedule of three separate testing events before the start of the 2026 F1 season.
Proclaiming how much excitement this brand new alliance brings, Cowell also touched on their ambitious objective to stand on the top step of the podium and acknowledged how technically challenging F1 is as a sport. Nonetheless, the Brit added that they are concentrating their efforts on resolving the AMR26’s drawbacks during pre-season testing before they take to the track for the season opener in Australia.
“There’s a huge amount of development, testing going on. Both at Silverstone, so wind tunnel testing, prove out of components in readiness for going to Barcelona and then Bahrain. And the same in Sakura.
“And we’ve set tough targets. We’re really, really excited with this works partnership. This is a car that’s been created exclusively between Honda and Aston Martin.
“And we’ve set ourselves tough targets. We want to win. But we understand that Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. And it’s difficult, it’s challenging. And you focus on your issues. It’s very rare that engineering organisations celebrate successes in the factory. So we are working hard on all the issues that we need to resolve.
“And we’ll go to Barcelona and we’ll learn about the car on the track. We’ll go to Bahrain twice and we’ll learn about the car on the track. And then we’ll end up in Melbourne at the first race.”
Aston Martin team excited to see Newey’s car in action
Andy Cowell further emphasised how building a competitive yet reliable F1 car that drivers can push the limits of is not a walk in the park. Moreover, claiming that their resolution is strong as ever, the 56-year-old reiterated how the Aston Martin squad are relishing their efficient collaboration with the talented minds from Honda as they tackle the 2026 regulations together.
Cowell was also quick to point out how having Adrian Newey at the helm of AMR26’s development had rejuvenated the entire team over the course of 2025 and that they are thrilled to see the design genius’s creation on the track as pre-season shakedown commences on January 26.
“It’s always a challenging time for a group of engineers. Pulling an advanced technology machine together. Getting it to perform well, getting it to be reliable. Getting it to the point where a driver can perform right on the very edge of performance.
“We’re working hard, we’re working well together. And we’ve got that same sense of determination. It is thoroughly enjoyable working with the Honda engineers. And it’s really exciting.
“The buzz in the Silverstone campus that’s come together over the last year. Pulling together an Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin Honda car is something that everybody is really revelling in and looking forward to seeing it on the track in not many days time. So [it’s] a really exciting time for us.”
