Fernando Alonso says he’s eager to work with Honda again in 2026 after extending his deal to drive for Aston Martin.
The team signed a power unit supply deal with the manufacturer last year, beginning when Formula 1’s new power unit regulations arrive in two years’ time. Alonso’s new contract means he will drive the Aston Martin-Honda in 2026.Alonso said he spoke with Honda’s management before agreeing his new deal and is keen to work with them again.
“I saw them, not in Suzuka [last week], a few months ago,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “I have great, great love for Japan and for the things that they do there.
“I think 2026 we are going into the unknown for sure in terms of regulations. But if I had to choose one, my feeling that I would choose our project and our engine and our power unit. One, because I think they are dominating the sport, as I said now, and they have a very, very strong engine on Red Bull and AlphaTauri [RB]. And second, because with the new fuels and the new regulations, they will have all the tools available to succeed.”
Alonso’s previous experience with Honda was not positive and is often remembered for his criticism of their “GP2 engine” on his radio during the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix. He joined McLaren that year, attracted by the prospect of using Honda’s power units when they last return to F1. However they endured three uncompetitive seasons which ended when McLaren cut short their contract.
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Honda went on to enjoy success with Red Bull, power Max Verstappen to the last three drivers’ championships. Alonso is hopeful they can be as competitive again in 2026.
“It didn’t work for us at McLaren, in the years that they came back to the sport, but right after that they fixed all the problems and they are currently dominating the sport. They’ve been world champions for the last few years. So I think they will have a baseline for 2026 that is already very strong.
“Also they have the capacity in Sakura of building something really nice. I visited Sakura in 2014, 2015, 2016. I haven’t visited yet at the moment, but I know that they are really, really motivated there.”
Alonso expects Aston Martin will also be in a strong position when F1 introduces its new sustainable fuels in 2026. “This is something that also I will love to experiment with, as I said before, with Aramco, a great partner,” he said.
“So I see a win-win situation. I respect the Japanese culture as as you all know. We just came from Japan, a special race – always I have a special helmet when we race in Japan. Samurai tattoo on my back, so there are a lot of links always with Japan.
“This 2026, it is appealing and hopefully after the experience with McLaren-Honda and the IndyCar as well, we have now this opportunity to work again together. That for me is a true pleasure.”
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Asd
11th April 2024, 19:41
Honda failed Alonso many many times.The lack of an official apology to Alonso after his Honda engine failure at Indy 500 in 2017 was very disappointing.
notagrumpyfan
12th April 2024, 6:58
Power Units in motorsports fail sometimes. I’m sure this is not ‘on purpose’, or even a ‘deliberate lack of trying’.
Thus why demand an ‘official apology’?
Mog
12th April 2024, 11:18
Because Alonso. Or so it seems
Nick T.
12th April 2024, 23:51
I’ve never heard him complain about this.
RR
11th April 2024, 20:10
AAAARRRGH rocket ship f1 engine!!
Nick T.
11th April 2024, 23:18
I mean, let’s be honest, this sounded like the most anodyne, boiler plate praise. Nothing he said sounds like something Fernando says when he’s genuinely excited. I don’t think he’s pessimistic either though. I just think he knows literally anything could happen and he won’t a Newey chassis to compensate for a weak PU or to ensure magical results if the PU is good.
Edvaldo
12th April 2024, 2:28
well, at least this time he can be assure he’ll have a competitive engine.
Sometimes i still can’t believe how under prepared and terrible they were with Mclaren. And how fast it was for Red Bull to help them sort their things with a full season of no pressure and no stress with their B-Team.
Nick T.
12th April 2024, 8:33
Well, they had many seasons behind them. The engine wasn’t awful during their last year with McLaren. Also, they didn’t have McLaren’s dumb packaging demands which compromised the design.
PacificPR (@streydt)
12th April 2024, 5:54
So curious how this will work out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next announcement will be that Newey will be joining AM. Otherwise it all doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Charles
12th April 2024, 6:59
All drivers and tech/ aerodynamic specialists think about 26 season. So Alonso is betting on Aston Martin (and maybe Newey joines) , Max is betting Mercedes (announcement next week) , Hamilton obviously Ferrari. Poor Sainz only has options at Audi or worse, an imploded Red Bull with a weak engine.. I think there will already be some some exciting racing in upcoming transition year.
MacLeod (@macleod)
12th April 2024, 8:17
Your completly right! 2026 is going to be fun ……………………..
RH
13th April 2024, 11:14
Dan Fallows leaves Neweys shadow only to be overshadowed by Newey again. What a timeline.
Nick T.
12th April 2024, 8:35
I put the odds of this coming to pass at 0.000000000000001%. But I REALLY hope it does.
Only Facts!
12th April 2024, 11:39
There’s such an underlying joke here.
I consider Alonso a very special racer. Not only for the longevity of his skills, but also for the relentless pursue of the car ahead of him, whatever position his in.
But Alonso is also the fastest unlucky non-filtered F1 driver racing today, and also the king of bad career decisions after his first two championships.
The HAM clash, the crashgate, the “RedBull for birthday” gate, the GP2 gate…
In his hands, 2018 Ferrari would have ended the championship 1 point ahead (or behind) Mercedes. But at that time he was saying “now we can fight” to McLaren, at the same time he was looking for a way out…to Renault… who’s going nowhere now.
The joke is, everytime Alonso joins a project, it fails. And not because of him, it just fails. After he leaves, in a couple of years the team is back to winning ways.
But that all there’s to my comment. An observation and a joke that arises from it.
No matter how good the team is, they should hang some lucky charms on Alonso’s motorhome door.
Because if planets align in 2026, we may see the impossible happening.
MichaelN
12th April 2024, 17:20
Alonso made a lot of good career decisions too; he joined Renault when they were on the way up and won titles, he joined McLaren and they turned out to have built a very strong car that worked well with the Bridgestone (something other former Michelin teams struggled with in 2007), and he managed to get himself into Ferrari – at Räikkönen’s expense – where they had cars that, while usually not as good as the Red Bull, were good enough to fight for the title in 2010, 2012 and – had things not gone awry on the tyre front – arguably in 2013 as well. If Ferrari hadn’t lost so many points in Malaysia and Bahrain, there’s a good chance Alonso would have been basically tied with Vettel by that fateful English GP, as the gap then was only something like 20 points.
The McLaren-Honda project was a big failure, though.
Nick T.
12th April 2024, 23:59
The unluckiest driver ever? Definitely a contender. But the bad career decisions trope is the most inaccurate thing ever. Let’s look at his decisions.
1. Jumps ship from Renault to McLaren at the perfect time
2. Going to Renault wasn’t really a choice. It was a consequence of the 2007 scandal
3. The move to Ferrari was the best one available and it worked decently enough
4. The move back to McLaren was disastrous. He likely wins the WDC the year Vettel kept choking. But most thought the McLaren-Honda combo would be box office
5. Renault-Alpine was his only route back and it was a solid enough platform
6. Ditching Aston was a fantastic choice at just the right time and everyone called it a move backward. Staying there was really the only option on the table currently. I think it has more potential than Mercedes. RBR was the only move worth making.
So, besides it being criminally unfair that Fernando has gone basically 100 years without a top car, I don’t see what choices he made that were so bad.
DonSmee (@david-beau)
12th April 2024, 20:26
Alonso the samurai returns in 2026!