(Motorsport-Total.com) – Max Verstappen still harbors warm feelings for his former engine partner Honda. The Red Bull driver hopes that the Japanese manufacturer will turn things around together with Aston Martin.
Read more Energy Management 2026: Why the full-throttle myth doesn’t hold up
While Red Bull Powertrains has surprised many experts in the Formula 1 paddock so far, Honda is experiencing a significantly more difficult build-up phase with Aston Martin. Even if Toto Wolff’s comments on the sheer performance of the DM01 – as the Red Bull power unit is officially called – may have been politically motivated: the reliability has proven to be better than many had expected so far.
Honda, on the other hand, was confronted with several problems early on. Lance Stroll revealed during the first test week in Bahrain that Aston Martin had completed 400 fewer laps than most other teams up to that point – and that they might be missing four seconds per lap.
The start of the second test week also didn’t go quite according to plan. Fernando Alonso had to spend Wednesday morning in the garage, which the team later attributed to a problem with the powertrain.
“I hope Honda gets it all sorted”
Verstappen has won all of his world championship titles to date with Honda power and still values the Japanese brand very much. When asked if he was surprised that Honda seems to be stuck at Aston Martin for the time being, Verstappen replied.
“Yes, it looks like that at the moment, but I don’t know exactly what they are doing or what’s going on there,” said the Dutchman. “Of course, I hope they get everything under control, but I don’t know.”
Although Honda is now under contract with a rival team, Verstappen wishes the manufacturer nothing but the best: “I can’t really say anything about their current situation, but I always prefer it when Honda does very well in Formula 1.”
It must be taken into account that Honda’s current Formula 1 project differs somewhat from the successful years with Red Bull. Koji Watanabe already admitted last year that many employees had been withdrawn from the Formula 1 project and assigned to other R&D activities at Honda.
This goes back to the decision to officially withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of 2021. Although Honda subsequently signed a deal with Red Bull to continue maintaining the engines until 2025, the cut was already noticeable. As a result, the Japanese had to partially rebuild their Formula 1 project after the deal with Aston Martin.
Read more Engine advantage: George Russell amazed by Red Bull
This process takes time – just like the integration with the new partner. At the presentation in Saudi Arabia, Watanabe explained that it is also a logistical puzzle, as the Honda project is mostly based in Sakura, while Aston Martin works on the Silverstone campus.
“Our engineers often fly to Silverstone, and Aston Martin engineers also work very hard at our factory in Japan. That is a challenge in itself, and perhaps the flight costs are a small disadvantage for us compared to the European manufacturers,” Watanabe admitted.
Start procedure and fuel are fine, but: Where does Red Bull stand?
As for Red Bull’s own form, Verstappen does not want to venture any predictions yet. Although Laurent Mekies and Pierre Wache have both ranked Red Bull as the fourth fastest team, the man at the wheel prefers to hold back before the season opener.
The 2026 Formula 1 cars in their final designs on the race track
“I don’t know where we stand. We are still trying out a lot. Wednesday wasn’t a really good day for us,” said Verstappen with a view to the cooling problems that plagued his teammate Isack Hadjar.
“I know that there is still a long way to go for us. You can’t expect everything to be perfect right away, especially with our own engine. New regulations, and you see that certain teams are now bringing upgrades to the car that look quite interesting. So it’s impossible to say anything. Where you stood last week, you might not stand today. And where you stand this week, you might not be in Melbourne anymore. That’s a completely different track, you can’t really draw any conclusions from that.”
On a positive note, the basics at Red Bull seem to be right. This applies, among other things, to the start procedure and also to the fully sustainable fuels.
“The start procedure might be a bit more difficult to get right, but for us that’s not really an issue. Also with the fuel, everything should be fine on our side; we finished everything on time. The FIA clearly defined when you have to homologate it, and we did that. Therefore, we have no problems with the fuel. Now it’s simply a matter of optimizing performance on both the car side and the engine side.”
Read more Energy management advantage? The new Red Bull engine stuns Russell