Racing
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Honda says it has made progress on Aston Martin’s vibration problems during Formula 1’s month-long break, but the manufacturer is warning that Miami will not bring a visible step forward in power-unit performance.
Shintaro Orihara, Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer, said the period after Suzuka was used for an intensive push with Aston Martin in Japan and the UK. The most significant step was keeping one of the AMR26 cars at Sakura for additional static testing for the first time, with the work focused on reducing vibrations and improving reliability.
“We have made some progress, allowing us to implement further countermeasures in Miami and later in the season,” Orihara said. But he also made clear what that progress does not mean. “Realistically, this progress will not have a visible impact on the power unit performance on track, so we shouldn’t be expecting big jumps forward here.”
That caution matters because Aston Martin badly needs relief. After three races, the Silverstone team is still scoreless in 11th and last in the championship. One summary of its start to 2026 says only one Aston Martin driver has reached the finish of a grand prix so far this season, with Fernando Alonso taking 18th at Suzuka, one lap down.
Orihara said the Japan weekend at least showed Honda and Aston Martin that the project was moving in the right direction. He described the gap between races as “a long but intense period,” adding that the Suzuka result helped give the group motivation to keep pushing while the Sakura testing program identified further corrective steps for Miami and beyond.
Miami presents a different technical challenge from the first three rounds. Orihara called it the first circuit on the 2026 calendar with many slow-speed corners, but also one with two long full-throttle sections. For Honda, that shifts the focus toward improving drivability in the low-speed sector and optimizing energy management there, while also keeping power-unit temperatures under control on what is expected to be the first hot weekend of the season under the new rules.
The timing makes the task harder. Miami is a Sprint weekend, so there is only one practice session, even if FP1 has been extended to 90 minutes. Orihara said that limited running has to cover data-setting work under the new regulations and help define the best cooling specifications before Sprint qualifying, which makes that session crucial for judging whether Honda’s latest reliability countermeasures can at least move Aston Martin toward a more stable weekend.