The 2026 Formula 1 season kicks off Monday in Barcelona with the first of two pre-season tests. While Aston Martin won’t fully reveal its car until February 9, Honda has already pulled the sheets off its RA626H power unit, which wears the automaker’s new logo and establishes its racing division, HRC, as a global unit.
Ahead of the pre-season test, HRC president Koji Watanabe spoke to The Drive about the relationship between Honda and Aston Martin’s leadership, namely owner Lawrence Stroll and newly-appointed team principal Adrian Newey.
With Stroll and Newey known for their lack of patience, I asked Honda Racing Company’s chief how he’s managed to keep their expectations in check and their well-known push for a faster development pace ahead of the Australian GP.
“In regard to the level of patience that Stroll and Newey might have, it is my experience that they do have a very strong level of requirement for speed and creating results,” Watanabe told The Drive.
“But this is the first time that Aston Martin is working as a works team and also working with Honda as a power unit developer, so it’s going to be essential to establish the foundation of the organization and, in a very steady manner, accumulate the know-how that’s going to be beneficial for us.”
Watanabe, who leads all of the automaker’s global racing initiatives, stressed that “it is in the best interest of Honda and Aston Martin that we do not rush into things and take solid steps.”
Legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, who originally joined the team to develop the 2026 car per the new regulations, is now in charge of the entire team, not just the technical side. This has reportedly led to “intense” conversations with Honda. Watanabe clarified that Aston’s speedy pace is a good thing; Honda is working hard to match them while focusing on steady, foundational progress.
“We are seeing that on the chassis development side, based on Newey’s [initial] requests for engineering changes, [the team] are in the process of making these changes to accommodate these requests,” he told The Drive. “So this may have had an impact on the PU, like the position of the vehicle, as well as its layout. So Aston Martin has this attitude of speed that is going to be quite important, and Honda will work with them to meet its pace.”
With some rivals, such as the also-newcomer Audi, already focusing on 2027 in terms of power unit development, I asked Watanabe whether Honda was still focusing on 2026 or already on the future.
“We are focusing on the PU development for this season, but as a part of our 2026 development program, a plan for 2027 is included, but the focus still remains on 2026.”
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