Leadership Lawrence Stroll was decisive in Honda’s plan

Leadership Lawrence Stroll was decisive in Honda’s plan


The new engine era will start from 2026 Honda no longer works with Red Bull Racing en Max Verstappen, but will supply the engine to Aston Martin. Several racing stables were interested in the Japanese power source, but Honda chose to work with the racing stables of, among others, Fernando Alonso inside Walking the Lance.

“I can’t give an exact number, but I can say that several Formula 1 teams have approached us,” Honda Racing Cooperation president Koji Watanabe told Motorsport.com “We’ve only had one conversation with some teams, there have been several when contacting other teams. “

Which team these are is still a matter of speculation, but the choice ultimately fell on Aston Martin. Watanabe explains from Honda why the Japanese chose British training. “Honda was very pleased with Lawrence Stroll’s passion and strong leadership to fight for the world championship in 2026.”

“They are investing a lot of money in the new Silverstone factory. The factory was obviously still under construction, but we visited there several times. We also had several meetings with Mr Martin Whitmarsh and Mike Krack, ditto the management team. They are very open and the whole team is working in the same direction. The team is a unit and that is very important to us.”

Honda has been a partner of Red Bull Racing since 2019 and VCARB – AlphaTauri at that time / Toro Rosso – since 2018. Although the car manufacturer officially said goodbye after 2021, the Japanese remained involved in the further development of energy sources. Honda worked together McLaren from 2015 to 2017 in hopes of returning to the successful 1980s. Alain Prost is not To revive Ayrton Senna. That turned out to be a fiasco.

Two-time champion Alonso drove for the team from Woking at the time and was very critical of the ‘GP2 engine’, which the Japanese did not appreciate at all, but the rift between the Spaniard and Honda has been fruitfully removed again. partnership from 2026.