Honda has laid out a development plan to try to close the gap with Aston Martin in Formula 1 for the 2027 season, with two major upgrades planned for the coming year. The aim is to improve the performance of the power unit after the difficulties faced by the partnership in 2026.
The project calls for an initial evolution at the start of the championship and another significant update midway through the year. According to Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s chief engineer, the first package is not expected to place the manufacturer among the top contenders, making a second advance necessary during the season.
“We need a few steps to reach the top competitors, and our goal is to bring some improvements for the opening stage of 2027,” Orihara told the press.
“But we can still say that, in the opening stage, we will not be among the main contenders, so we need one more step,” he said, pointing to the eighth stage, scheduled for Monaco, as a reference for the second major update, following the plan previously outlined by Adrian Newey.
The technical priority is the internal combustion engine. Orihara acknowledged that this is one of the weak points of Honda’s power unit and explained that the company is working to evolve in this area, which will have greater importance for performance in 2027 compared to the current season.
This partnership between Aston Martin and Honda faces performance and reliability problems in 2026, including lack of power, intense vibrations, turbo lag, and handling difficulties. The ADUO mechanism will allow Honda to carry out two updates in 2027 to try to narrow the gap to the other manufacturers.
On the Aston Martin side, track operations director Mike Krack also reinforced his confidence in the continuity of the partnership when asked about the possibility of the team pursuing an agreement with Red Bull Powertrains-Ford for 2028.
“I can only say that we have a partner, a long-term partner, which is Honda,” Krack said. He also recalled that the manufacturer reached its 500th race in Austin and stated that he believes the two companies will stay together when they achieve their first victory as partners.
