Honda’s return to Formula 1 under the 2026 regulations lends itself to obvious narratives – electrification, sustainable fuel and regulatory reset.
Yet those themes only partially explain the decision.
For Honda, it has so far been a difficult return to F1 – but this was never a simple re-entry into a championship it has left and rejoined multiple times before.
The manufacturer’s history in F1 stretches back to the 1960s as a constructor, through dominant engine-supplier eras in the 1980s and 1990s, into a works-team chapter in the 2000s, and most recently into the hybrid power unit era that began in 2014.
Its 2015 comeback alongside McLaren proved bruising. Starting effectively from zero under complex hybrid regulations, Honda required several seasons to rebuild competitiveness.
By 2021, through its partnership with Red Bull, it was again powering championship-winning machinery.
Although Honda officially withdrew at the end of that season, it did not fully step away.
Through Honda Racing Corporation, it retained trackside involvement and continued supporting Red Bull’s programme, preserving knowledge, personnel and operational continuity even after its formal manufacturer status ended.
The 2026 framework – with a 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power and the introduction of fully sustainable fuel – provided a clear structural moment to recommit. But internally, the logic of returning runs deeper than regulatory alignment.
An engineering classroom under pressure
For Shintaro Orihara, Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer of Honda F1, it is less a technology showroom and more a pressure environment designed to accelerate engineers.
“From an engineer’s aspect, working in Formula One in such a competitive and high-technology area, under big pressure, develops the engineers,” he told Sector.
That perspective reframes the purpose of the programme. The value of F1 lies not only in components that can migrate into road cars, but in the capability of the people who build them.
“Honda is a unique company,” he said.
“Engineers often move across the Formula One project and the road-going car project. I have never seen such a unique job rotation in any other Formula One manufacturer. I was that person.
“I was involved in a road-going car project, then worked in Formula One, then went back to a road-going car project and brought that experience with me.
“That boosts Honda technology and also the Honda mindset. That is a big motivation for Honda working in Formula One – to develop engineers.”
The assumption that F1 serves primarily as a technology pipeline into road cars is, Orihara suggests, incomplete.
“Some areas of technology are still common, but mainly we bring experience and talent into the road-going car project,” he added.
“Also, of course, from the road-going car project we can bring a lot of experience into the Formula One project. That is a unique point.”
In that context, Honda’s partnership with Aston Martin is not simply a supply agreement under new regulations. It is the operating environment in which that engineer development takes place.
Designing one system, not two
If F1 is to function as an engineering development platform, the power unit and chassis cannot evolve in isolation.
Honda’s previous hybrid-era entry required years of catch-up after beginning from scratch. This time, Orihara describes a programme built around integration from the outset.
“We have started this project with Aston Martin in 2023. We worked closely with Aston Martin, not only on the factory side, but also now we have started trackside operations,” he explained.
“If we want to make the car fast, we need to work really, really closely. We need to trust each other.”
“Sometimes the team asks Honda to modify the engine to adapt to their car design. That can reduce our engine performance.
“Also sometimes we ask the team to modify their car design to make the engine more reliable. If it is good for the total package, Aston Martin accepts that modification.
“That type of good relationship has been developed through these three years. That is the good collaboration between Honda and Aston Martin.”
The emphasis on the total package aligns with the philosophy shaping Aston Martin’s 2026 project.
If we get a request from the Aston Martin designers, we assume that it may be coming from Adrian Newey. We know what Adrian Newey wants to do.
Shintaro Orihara
Team Principal Adrian Newey has described the car as requiring a holistic approach, arguing that success will depend not on one standout component but on how the full package works together.
That thinking mirrors the environment Honda wants its engineers operating within – one where performance is judged collectively.
“If we get a request from the Aston Martin designers, we assume that it may be coming from Adrian Newey. We know what Adrian Newey wants to do,” said Orihara.
“Even if it seems like a crazy request, we assume there is a reason behind it and we adapt to that modification.
“Without knowing his character, we might say it is a crazy idea and we cannot do it. But because we know Adrian Newey, that knowledge helps us to understand their demands.”
Integration, for Honda and Aston Martin, is not only about extracting lap time. It is about embedding engineers in a culture of collective optimisation.
Continuity into a new era
The most significant difference between Honda’s previous programme and its new partnership with Aston Martin is not simply regulatory. It is structural.
“Last time, we started our Formula One project from 2013 and we started from zero. It took many years to catch up,” Orihara said.
“We officially stopped our Formula One activity at the end of 2021, but in reality we kept supporting the Red Bull Group as HRC. I was working trackside in the V-CARB garage and also the Red Bull garage at the end of last year.”
Of course, those other – more obvious – reasons to return to the grid were also important to Honda as the 2026 reset provided an opportunity for another F1 era.
“Regulation changing was a big motivation for Honda to come back to Formula One. The power unit is now split 50-50 between the engine and the battery, and sustainable fuel is becoming important,” added Orihara.
“Sustainability is very important for Honda, and these regulations make Formula One a good field for Honda to compete and show what we can achieve.
“I would say thanks to the new regulations for giving Honda the opportunity to say we can come back to Formula One now.”
