Fernando Alonso is looking forward to getting behind the wheel of Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin F1 car next season, but Ralf Schumacher believes there could be some tension between Alonso and a crucial partner of Aston Martin’s for the 2026 season.
Alonso thinks Newey is the best F1 designer ever, and despite being the most experienced F1 driver ever, he has never had the chance to drive one of Newey’s creations in the entirety of his 22-year career.
The 66-year-old joined the ranks at Aston Martin following a stint with Red Bull that lasted nearly two decades.
In that time, Newey designed cars that went on to win six constructors’ championships as well as eight drivers’ championships, split between Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.
Alonso is learning in every conversation with Newey due to the fact that the 40-year-old knows that the design chief is capable of delivering a car which will lead him to his elusive third world title in F1.
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Speaking to Formel.de, Ralf Schumacher highlighted a previous comment from Alonso, which came during the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix when the Spanish driver was driving for McLaren.
Frustrated with the performance of his Honda engine that caused him to become a sitting duck on the straights, Alonso described the power unit as a ‘GP2 engine’ in a furious radio message to his McLaren race engineer.
Alonso and Honda are reuniting in 2026 as the Japanese constructor is set to supply Aston Martin with power units in F1’s new era of regulations, which Schumacher believes could pose some problems for the Spanish driver due to the ‘strong memory’ of Honda’s engineers.
“I had the opportunity to work with two Japanese manufacturers, and I learned one thing: they have a very strong memory,” Schumacher told journalist Kevin Scheuren.
“I don’t think that the way things were back then, when McLaren and Fernando Alonso, in particular, were still in their heyday, when he wasn’t exactly known as the team player with the gentle character that he now portrays, or that he obviously is now.
“Honda took note of that, and there are some prejudices in the room, I’m pretty sure of that. Maybe that can be worked out over time, but I know how Japanese people are and how they tick, and I don’t think there’s a lot of love there at the moment.”
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Honda then entered into a highly successful partnership with Red Bull
Following the disastrous engine partnership between McLaren and Honda during the middle of the 2010s era, the Japanese manufacturer began a highly successful collaboration with Red Bull, which saw them solve their Renault power unit woes as the team returned to the top of the grid.
The Austrian constructor has been using Honda engines ever since, despite the company ending their official involvement in F1 in 2021. This led Red Bull to create its own engine division, Red Bull Powertrains, whilst still using the Honda-assembled engines up until the end of the 2025 season.
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
With the new engine regulations coming into effect next season, Red Bull has been working to create their own in-house engines for the first time ever in collaboration with Ford. Despite the sacking of a key member of the deal, Christian Horner, Ford is still keen to enter the world of F1 with Red Bull.
However, the new engine’s forecasts have reportedly left a lot to be desired, with Ted Kravitz believing Red Bull may struggle as much as Cadillac in their F1 debut next season.