Aston Martin to ditch Mercedes and join forces with Honda from F1 2026

Aston Martin will become Honda’s official works partner from 2026 after the Japanese manufacturer confirmed it will be part of the next generation of power unit regulations. 

Honda officially left F1 at the end of 2021 after helping Max Verstappen claim his maiden world championship but has continued to provide Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri with engines. 

That supply deal will run until the end of the 2025 season when Red Bull’s own Powertrains division will be fully operational as part of a tie-up with Ford. 

Honda was confirmed as one of six power unit manufacturers that had signed up to F1’s new engine rules by governing body the FIA in February, though at that stage the Japanese manufacturer’s exact future was unclear. 

Discussions were held with Aston Martin - whose current Mercedes customer deal expires at the end of 2025 - and an agreement has now been struck to green light Honda’s formal return to F1.

“One of the key reasons for our decision to take up the new challenge in F1 is that the world’s pinnacle form of racing is striving to become a sustainable racing series. This is in line with the direction Honda is aiming towards with carbon neutrality. So it will become a platform which will facilitate the development of our electrification technologies,” Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said. 

“In light of these changes in F1, many young engineers at Honda have expressed their desire to take on new challenges in the pinnacle racing series, insisting that the new F1 regulations will enable us to compete head-on by fully leveraging the skills and technologies Honda has amassed to date.

“Such ambition to challenge the world’s top class of racing has always been a part of Honda’s DNA, dating back to the founding of our company.

“Taking these factors into consideration, including its effectiveness as an opportunity for human resource development, we affirmed that we could gain significant value from participation in F1.”

Aston Martin Performance Technologies CEO Martin Whitmarsh added: “Our future works partnership with Honda is one of the last parts of the jigsaw puzzle slotting into place for Aston Martin’s ambitious plans in Formula 1.” 

The news means Mercedes will lose one of their existing three customers, with McLaren and Williams both indicating that they are keeping their engine options open for 2026 and beyond.