Formula 1's Aston Martin principal says team was left blindsided by lack of experienced support

MELBOURNE, Australia — Formula 1's Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey said Friday his group was blindsided by the fact its then-incoming works power unit partner Honda had only retained about 30% of its original world championship-winning staff going into the project.

He said that has proven to be a key factor in its struggles to get up to speed for 2026 and came only a day after Newey admitted Aston Martin was unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking permanent nerve damage due to vibration in the cars.

Honda left F1 at the end of 2021, closing out a partnership with Red Bull after a season when Max Verstappen won his maiden title and a move that gave rise to the creation of the energy drinks brand’s own power unit operation.

But while Honda made a slight U-turn in supporting Red Bull by building and servicing its power units to the end of 2025, the Japanese auto manufacturer actually returned to work for Aston Martin at the end of 2022 — with the official announcement made the following year in May 2023 — but in very different form.

“When they reformed, a lot of the original group had — it now transpires — disbanded, and had gone to work on solar panels, or whatever,” Newey said.

“A lot of the group that reformed are actually fresh to Formula 1. They didn’t bring the (championship-winning) experience that they had previously. Plus, when they came back in 2023, that was the first year of the budget cap introduction for engines.”

But Aston Martin was left unaware of Honda’s now-inexperienced workforce until it went to Japan last year in a bid to address rumors it was running behind.

“We only really became aware of it, kind of November of last year when we — Lawrence (Stroll), Andy Cowell and myself went to Tokyo to discuss rumors starting to suggest that their original target power, they wouldn’t achieve for race one,” Newey said.

Stroll completed just three laps in opening practice Friday, with a power unit issue curtailing his running. He finished 21st and last on the timesheet, 30 seconds off the pace.

His two-time world champion teammate Fernando Alonso did not take part in the session after a suspected power unit-related issue was discovered on his car ahead of the first one-hour session.