{"id":848560,"date":"2026-08-09T00:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848560\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T00:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:48:12","slug":"honda-set-on-making-fernando-alonso-f1-world-champion-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848560\/","title":{"rendered":"Honda set on making Fernando Alonso F1 world champion again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honda, the power unit provider for Aston Martin, has confirmed its target to make two-time Formula 1<\/a> world champion Fernando Alonso a title contender once again.<\/p>\n

Alonso will decide after the summer break whether he will stay at Aston Martin and, on a larger scale, in F1. The Spaniard has made clear his unfavourable opinions of the 2026 regulations, and it has been reported that the two-time champion could be eyeing up a spot at Alpine for 2027.<\/p>\n

Following a disastrous start to the 2026 F1 season, Aston Martin and Honda introduced a huge package of 16 upgrades to their cars at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It seemed to bring positive results, with both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll recording season-high finishes of 14th and 13th, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"ShintaroShintaro Orihara has bold ambitions for Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso<\/p>\n

Honda: Making Alonso a title contender is the target<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with RacingNews365<\/a>, Honda\u2019s chief engineer Shintaro Orihara emphasised the importance of Alonso\u2019s technical feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has 20 years of experience. So if Fernando says \u2018we need this deployment before going into a corner\u2019, then we should respect his opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso\u2019s most recent title came nearly 20 years ago in 2006, when he won with Renault. The last time he was a real title contender was back in 2013, when he finished second in the championship behind Red Bull\u2019s Sebastian Vettel. Honda\u2019s goal, Orihara says, is to buck this trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is our target, definitely. So we are working closely, and we know he is a great driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a big passion, and he trusts Honda. So we want to bring what he wants, that is definitely our target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso: F1 future decision is not about performance, but regulations<\/p>\n

Despite the rumours surrounding his F1 future, Alonso insists that his ultimate decision doesn\u2019t depend on Aston Martin, but more about the rules of the sport.<\/p>\n

Following the team\u2019s Hungary performance in its heavily-upgraded car, Alonso reacted positively to the result, expressing hope for a \u201cnew start to the championship\u201d. However, his relationship with the new, wider power unit regulations given by the FIA is more strained.<\/p>\n

\u201cDriving these cars in places like Spa or Silverstone is not what I\u2019m dreaming of for my future,\u201d he told the media. \u201cSo we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso directly referenced the Belgium and British Grands Prix, which were not suited to the energy deployment-centric nature of the cars\u2019 new power units.<\/p>\n

Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey has previously expressed confidence<\/a> that Alonso will remain with the team beyond 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty confident that Fernando is enjoying his time with us and that we will continue with our relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aston Martin and Honda have endured a trying year, but the fightback has now begun, with hopes high. <\/p>\n

However, the first clue on whether Orihara\u2019s ambition for Alonso and Honda will become a reality or not will come in Zandvoort when Honda\u2019s new power unit makes its much-anticipated debut. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Former Williams driver labels 2026 \u2018a write off\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honda, the power unit provider for Aston Martin, has confirmed its target to make two-time Formula 1 world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[18573,64,63,817,845,813,816,914,85],"class_list":["post-848560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-astonmartin","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-honda","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}