2026 was supposed to be Lawrence Stroll’s year – but after the Melbourne debacle, one expert believes the relationship with Honda is crumbling.
Harsh words for Silverstone: Aston Martin has been warned that the racing team may have “ruined” its relationship with Honda before the end of the first Grand Prix of the 2026 Formula 1 season. At least that’s how Formula 1 expert Will Buxton sees it.
The year 2026 was supposed to be a major turning point for Lawrence Stroll’s team. The team owner has invested vast amounts of money to modernize the factory, build its own wind tunnel, and hire top-class personnel such as former Red Bull star designer Adrian Newey.
The new season also marks the start of an exclusive engine partnership with Honda. But while expectations were huge in the run-up to the season, the start turned out to be a sporting disaster.
Aston Martin drops out
Aston Martin traveled to the Grand Prix in Melbourne with the worst possible preparation. After just a few laps in testing, there were warnings that the team would struggle to finish the race. In the end, the inevitable happened: both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired at the start of the season.
“It was a disaster. A disaster from start to finish,” said Formula 1 expert Buxton in the Up To Speed podcast. “We shouldn’t try to sell the whole thing as a success just because Aston Martin managed to get a car on the grid, make up a few places at the start, and somehow complete more laps than expected.”
Buxton continued: “It’s a disaster. This was supposed to be the year. The Newey car, the Honda engine—Lawrence Stroll bet everything on this rule change. This was the year they wanted to fight for the win. And they’re not doing that.”
Buxton criticizes Aston Martin
The expert draws parallels with Honda’s previous partnerships with McLaren and Red Bull and warns that Aston Martin could fall into the same trap as the Woking-based team once did.
“Aston Martin currently has two massive problems,” Buxton analyzes. “One is an engine that vibrates itself to pieces. And the other is that they started their relationship with Honda completely wrong because they publicly pilloried Honda, rightly or wrongly.”
Buxton questions the team’s preparation: “Did they do their homework? Didn’t they know what situation Honda was in when they signed the contract to return to Formula 1? It came as no shock to anyone that Honda had scaled back much of its program or lost it to Red Bull Powertrains.”
Does Honda need time?
According to Buxton, criticism of the Japanese could have fatal consequences: “If you put all the blame on Honda, you’re doing exactly what McLaren did back then. And when Honda finally got their act together—which they undoubtedly will—they had had enough of McLaren and switched to Red Bull. Red Bull then reaped the rewards of the hard work Honda had put in over the years.”
What makes this particularly explosive is that pride and loyalty play a central role in Japanese culture. “By throwing Honda under the bus on the first weekend, I feel they may have ruined the relationship before the first weekend was even over. That’s a disaster from every conceivable perspective,” was his damning verdict.
