{"id":922710,"date":"2026-10-06T11:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T11:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922710\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T11:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T11:32:10","slug":"honda-makes-mercedes-engine-admission-as-f1-2027-priority-emerges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922710\/","title":{"rendered":"Honda makes Mercedes engine admission as F1 2027 priority emerges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara conceded that a lack of pure engine power is holding it back compared to Mercedes<\/a> and its other rival F1 power unit manufacturers.<\/p>\n

As such, Orihara highlighted this as an area which the Japanese manufacturer must improve for F1 2027. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll expressed confidence that major gains will be found on the chassis side next year, but admitted engine power remains the unknown.<\/p>\n

Honda admits \u2018engine power itself\u2019 main limitation<\/p>\n

The Aston Martin<\/a> and Honda alliance has proven to be something of a slow burner in its first year.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso recorded a best result so far for this partnership of eighth at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, where both the Spaniard and his teammate Lance Stroll made it into Q2.<\/p>\n

That marked only the team\u2019s third top-ten result of the season.<\/p>\n

In this new era of Formula 1, Mercedes is widely regarded as having the best power unit package. Red Bull has the best internal combustion engine, according to the FIA.<\/p>\n

Orihara was asked where the main deficit lies in the Honda PU, compared to Mercedes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main big difference is engine power itself,\u201d he told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we brought the Spec 2 engine, but still there is a gap between Mercedes and Honda, and also to competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s mainly coming from the engine power itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ICE makes up roughly 50 per cent of engine power, working alongside electrical energy in this new formula.<\/p>\n

Orihara was asked whether the energy deployment is impacted by this ICE deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy management can affect car speed. But it\u2019s difficult to split.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have a big engine power difference, it\u2019s difficult to say how much difference is coming purely from energy management, because if engine power is low, that also has a negative impact on energy management. So, it\u2019s difficult to split.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s mainly coming from engine power. So, that is an area we need to improve for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stroll hopes that Honda is successful in that mission.<\/p>\n

The B-spec AMR26 chassis arrived in Hungary, followed by further smaller revisions, with the Canadian declaring that a huge step forward. He has no doubt that further progress is coming.<\/p>\n

He placed the ball in Honda\u2019s court to mirror that progress on the engine side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we\u2019re in a much better spot next year,\u201d he told PlanetF1.com and others. \u201cI hope we\u2019re fighting for points and we\u2019re in the mix.<\/p>\n

More on Aston Martin from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

Lance Stroll F1 salary revealed in Aston Martin accounts<\/a><\/p>\n

Honda reveals Alonso engine findings as review launched<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has been a long year for everyone. We\u2019re down on power. We started the season off not where we wanted on the chassis side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we made huge improvements on the chassis side. Big step in Budapest. We\u2019re confident we can find a lot more performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngine power, that remains to be seen, next year, race one, how we go. But hopefully we\u2019ll be in a much more competitive spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: Fernando Alonso F1 future confirmed in new announcement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara conceded that a lack of pure engine power is holding it back compared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[585,49,48,578,576,577,1613,3827,44,82],"class_list":["post-922710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-aston-martin","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-honda","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}