How Honda plans a return to being an F1 powerhouse

It’s media day at Zandvoort when Honda’s chief engineer and trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara arrives for the usual media session alongside Aston Martin’s Mike Krack. This time, however, the focus is primarily on Honda.

After an extremely painful start to its partnership with Aston Martin, the Sakura-based manufacturer is introducing its first, long-awaited engine upgrade, made possible by F1’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities. 

Before the media session starts, Orihara pulls a sheet of paper from his back pocket. “Ask me anything… except kW or lap time. Nice try though!” it reads. Honda’s chief engineer holds it up with a broad smile, although in some ways the message is telling. After what have been some bruising months, Honda no longer wants to raise expectations too much, and the manufacturer knows that the road to redemption will take time – a lot of it. 

Giving up, however, is not on Honda’s agenda this time. In an exclusive interview with Autosport, Orihara discusses the painful reality check of winter testing, the work going on behind the scenes, and the ambitious timeline for returning to success. 

We all know that the start of this new era has been very challenging. Was there a point internally when Honda first realised that the 2026 season would be a lot more difficult than anticipated? 

It’s a good question. At the end of last year our position was not so bad. Performance and driveability were still in the development stage, but things looked OK. Then we found out in January that our performance was always up and down in certain areas of the power unit. We found some performance, but then we also found some reliability issues coming with those steps. It meant that we had to reduce our performance again. 

When we started running in Barcelona, we realised that our performance would definitely be poor compared to the other manufacturers, and we found some issues on the battery side of the power unit as well. At the end of last year, we already saw that not everything would be competitive, but we didn’t expect it to be so bad. 

The 2021 crown marked the start of a run of world championship titles with Red Bull

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Are there any specific elements of the new power unit formula that have been particularly tricky for Honda? 

It’s difficult to say which components of the power unit have been most challenging for us, because everything has changed a lot under these regulations. For example, MGU-K power has changed from 120 to 350 kilowatts and that has been a very significant change for us. But also on the combustion side, the FIA has changed the fuel flow rate, so the most challenging point has been the combination of a lot of changes happening at the same time.  

Removing the MGU-H has also been quite tricky for us. I have been talking a lot about driveability this year, and the majority of that is coming from removing the MGU-H. It is challenging to keep the boost pressures at our targets after the regulation change, but above all, it has been the combination of so many changes for us. 

Apart from the technical regulations, Adrian Newey said in Melbourne that he only found out about the state of Honda’s F1 project in November 2025. We know that the team looks very different now from your years with Red Bull, but can you explain the background to that and also explain why Aston Martin only found out in November? 

It’s quite a difficult question to answer. Honda is a very unique company, so our staff are always moving between road car projects and the Formula 1 project. Last year, we had a lot of – not necessarily new – but highly talented people coming from our road car projects, but they were new to F1. Besides that, we had some other engineers who had worked within the previous Red Bull project. 

We always try to develop our talents in the F1 project to boost Honda’s overall knowledge. At the end of last year, we realised that our overall level of staff development would not be sufficient for F1. As a result of that, we had quite difficult moments during winter testing, but those moments have developed our people. They have learned so many things about what is needed to work in F1. They already had enough knowledge and skills, but from those difficult moments they have gained experience of how to work in F1. 

We have also brought back some colleagues who formerly worked on the Red Bull project. We brought them back into our current team to make sure that we have more people with F1 experience from that era. Furthermore, our new people got those learning experiences from winter testing, so I think that since then we have made good progress in terms of our staff development. I’m confident that we are in a good position now to develop a strong power unit and strong energy management for the years ahead. 

Fernando Alonso claimed Aston Martin’s second 2026 points finish at Zandvoort

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Speaking of the coming years, Honda also had a difficult start in the previous cycle but caught up massively. I don’t want to talk about world titles yet, but what is a realistic timeframe to at least get back to the competitive level you want? 

It is difficult to give an exact timescale in F1, because our performance is always relative to other competitors. But our ambition with the first ADUO upgrade was to get back to the racing field. We are currently working hard in the factory to bring another step for 2027. We want to bring an even bigger step for next season, but we should remain realistic.

I think that at the beginning of 2027, maybe we will not have the best power unit, but we will be closer to the top competitor. And then, we will keep pushing hard to be a top competitor ourselves later in 2027 or 2028. 

That sounds ambitious for the next two years. Can you say anything about what’s in the pipeline for 2027 and how things are progressing in the factory for next year? 

For 2027, we have a slightly different regulation for the fuel flow rate, but our development programme remains the same. We still need to improve our combustion engine, so for next year we will keep focusing on the combustion characteristics, to bring an even bigger step in that regard. That is our main focus. Besides that, we are working closely with Aston Martin to integrate our power unit better into their new chassis. 

Is the internal combustion engine still the biggest shortcoming, or are there other areas that need to be addressed, such as the efficiency of the electrical components? 

Our combustion engine performance is definitely poor compared to other manufacturers. The gap is quite huge and therefore engine performance is the most important thing to improve. If we improve our energy management, that won’t help if the combustion engine performance is still poor. So, now we purely focus on improving our engine performance and once we have achieved our target, then we optimise some other areas of the power unit. But for now our main focus point is still the engine performance. 

Orihara tells Vording that addressing the shortcomings of the Honda internal combustion engine is the main focus

Photo by: Honda Racing Corporation

The ADUO system allows you to work on that. However, there has been plenty of discussion about ADUO in the paddock, especially now that Red Bull Ford is at the top of the FIA ranking. Do you think ADUO is sufficient for Honda and, secondly, do you think the system is working as intended? 

So, to answer the first question, I think the number that we have received from the FIA looks reasonable. I would say that number is fair. But at this moment, it’s difficult to say if ADUO is working correctly for F1 as a whole. I think it is working well for Honda, but we need to keep monitoring how the system works for all manufacturers. In the end, it should be fair for everyone, so we need to keep monitoring the situation. 

Finally, severe criticism of the regulations has led to power unit changes for 2027 and 2028, including an increase in the fuel flow rate. How complicated is that for Honda and what are the most challenging elements to adapt to? 

The most challenging point is definitely reliability. If the fuel flow rate did not change, then we would still need to develop our reliability if we improved the performance. But that is expected anyway. With the increase in the fuel flow rate, the demands in terms of reliability will be quite big.

That is definitely challenging, but we have to thank the FIA for taking reasonable steps. If we were to get a big increase in one year, then it would have been a problem for us, but with these two steps it is still a reasonable number. 

And we shouldn’t forget: we have to care about the show as well. We need to consider how to make F1 a good show for all the fans. These steps will still be challenging in terms of reliability, but I think this is the right decision. 

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the October 2026 issue and subscribe today.

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