Aston Martin warned it may have already “ruined” Honda relationship after 'disastrous' 2026 start

Aston Martin has been warned that it could have “ruined” its relationship with Honda before the end of the first grand prix of 2026.

The 2026 Formula 1 season was expected to be a turning point for the Silverstone outfit. Team owner Lawrence Stroll has invested a staggering amount of money to upgrade the facilities and wind tunnel and to bring in former Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey, among other changes.

The new season also marked the start of Aston Martin’s exclusive power unit partnership with Honda. And while anticipation was high for the team, it had a challenging start.

Aston Martin went into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix having completed very few laps in pre-season testing and with the warning that they would likely not finish the race. Ultimately, both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired from their Melbourne campaign.

“It was a disaster. It was a disaster from start to finish,” Will Buxton said during the Up To Speed podcast.

“Let’s not try and paint this as some sort of success that Aston Martin managed to get a car on the grid, managed to get it to overtake a few cars when the lights went out and somehow completed more laps than we expected, and Fernando Alonso went back in the race, however many laps down he was.

“It’s a disaster. This is the year that was supposed to be the one. The Adrian car, the Honda engine, Lawrence Stroll pinned everything on the regulation change this year. This was the year that they came to fight, and they’re not.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Buxton pointed to Honda’s previous partnerships with McLaren and Red Bull, claiming that Aston Martin could face similar struggles to the former.

“There are two really big problems that Aston Martin has right now,” he continued. “One is an engine that’s shaking itself to pieces. And the other thing I see right now is that they have started their relationship with Honda in completely the wrong way because they’ve thrown Honda under the bus, rightly or wrongly.

“Did they do their due diligence? Did they know that Honda was in the situation that it was in when they signed the contract to bring Honda back to F1 and have their engines? If they didn’t, they should have done because it wasn’t a shock to anybody that Honda got rid of most of their programme or lost them to Red Bull Powertrains or wherever they went to, right?

“But if you’re going to pin all the blame on Honda, that’s exactly what McLaren did. And by the time Honda found their feet, which they will do, Honda had had enough of McLaren and had gone to Red Bull. And Red Bull reaped the rewards of all the work that Honda put in over that time.

“When you start off your first weekend throwing Honda under the bus, and in Japanese culture, pride and loyalty are so, so key. I just feel like they may have completely ruined that relationship before the first weekend was even over. And that, more than anything… It’s a disaster from every conceivable perspective.”

Photos from Australian GP – Sunday