Can Honda save Aston Martin before Miami GP?
Honda scrambles for answers
According to Sam Hall’s report for Crash, Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said Aston Martin staff and Honda Racing Corporation engineers have been working together at HRC’s Sakura research center since the Japanese Grand Prix. Orihara said, “We have been working against the clock to enhance our countermeasures,” which shows Honda still sees the power unit issue as urgent rather than contained.
The problem has already damaged running, reliability and driver comfort, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both affected by the vibration issues that have defined Aston Martin’s opening stretch.
The trouble runs deeper than Honda
According to Lewis Larkam’s Crash report, citing BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson, more than half of Aston Martin’s pace deficit at Suzuka came from the chassis, not the Honda power unit alone. That matters because the team entered 2026 with major expectations around Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin design and its new works partnership with Honda, yet it has ended up at the back of the field instead. According to Formula 1’s 2026 team standings, Aston Martin is 11th with zero points after three rounds, one place behind Cadillac.
Miami will show whether the fixes are real
According to Formula 1’s March announcement on the April races, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were removed from the April schedule, leaving teams with an unusually long gap after Japan. Miami, set for May 1 to 3 as Round 4, now matters more than usual because it is the first proper checkpoint after that break. According to Sam Hall and Adam Cooper’s Crash report, Alonso believes the recovery may take months, so a stronger showing in Florida would not solve everything, but it would at least show that Aston Martin and Honda are moving in the right direction.
Read also: Will Lamine Yamal miss the World Cup? Barcelona await scan results
Sources: Crash.net, Formula1.com.
