After seven years with Red Bull and eight including Toro Rosso in 2018, the cooperation between Honda and Red Bull will come to an end after this season. Formally, the partnership ended in 2021, but because engine development was frozen, both Red Bull teams continued using Honda power units. Initially, Red Bull planned to take Honda’s engines in-house for four more seasons, but that changed with a paid deal. Honda wasn’t keen to hand over any intellectual properties, and the extended deal until the end of 2025 meant less risk for Red Bull as well.
After the current campaign both parties will enter a new era. Red Bull takes its fate in its own hands with the Powertrains-Ford project, while Honda joins forces with Aston Martin. The Silverstone-based team will gain works status - a major shift compared to its current situation as a Mercedes customer and one with far-reaching consequences behind the scenes.
“I think it's completely different from being a customer team where it's a little bit of a black box, a black box that you can't edit,” Cowell begins, explaining how the relationship with Honda changes Aston Martin’s F1 operations.
“As a works team, there's a plethora of systems where you're discussing openly with the Honda engineers to maximise performance. Our common currency is lap time, so everything – whether it's mass, heat rejection, fuel consumption, centre of gravity, aero opportunity – you equate it all to lap time. Look at the results and go, right, if we do this and this, then that's the overall carrot that we'll see on page one of a race weekend. That's what the engineers work on to create the concepts and deliver those without losing any lap time.”
Cowell emphasises that defining those concepts is one thing - but making them work on the dyno is another challenge: “That's a tough journey. You have a concept but actually turning that into reality – into something that definitely works on the test bed – is an interesting process. The performance is there, the heat rejection is nice and low, the flow rates are low, the pump efficiency is low, crank power is good, round trip efficiency of the electrical systems is good, and it fits beautifully together in a compact environment. That's the quest that we're on.”
It's easier said than done, although the removal of the MGU-H theoretically makes next year’s engine formula slightly less complex.
“Liberating” - the difference between customer and works team
In an exclusive interview with Autosport, Cowell adds that he's impressed with Honda’s facilities and work ethic after visiting the Japanese manufacturer in both 2024 and 2025. He has some good references, having led Mercedes High Performance Powertrains until 2021.
“I guess it was just before the Austin GP last year that I visited Honda. I was impressed with their facility, the hunger, the creativity, and the determination. And there hasn't been a drop in that sort of approach over the last 12 months. They're just pushing. It's an engineering-led business with motorsport right at the beating heart of them. They also like working on the whole aspect of the race car, so they like contributing to lap time in multiple ways.”
That's a key difference compared to Aston Martin’s current situation as a customer. With the “black box” Cowell referred to Aston Martin had to accept the engine that Mercedes supplied and make concessions to the car design accordingly. With Honda, everything is discussed jointly. The Japanese manufacturer is trying to package the power unit in a way that does not create too many aerodynamic compromises. And even if certain concessions are necessary, Aston Martin knows far earlier than before what the implications for next year’s car will be.
“I think that's liberating for the engineers. They've now got the opportunity to have that dialogue and share data on what's the best way of packaging the back of the chassis, the front of the power unit, what's the best way of coming up with cooling systems, et cetera. The Honda engineers are very creative and there’s some really good joint simulation work looking at what's best. How do you optimise lap time across all of these systems? The same applies to the transmission and airflow underneath the bodywork, there's a healthy relationship there.”
As Cowell pointed out, that process is closely linked to Aston Martin producing its own gearbox for 2026 instead of relying on Mercedes HPP: “Yeah, we've been running prototype gearboxes at Silverstone and in Sakura for many months now. The collaboration between the engineers at Silverstone and Sakura has been pleasing to see. And also the IT infrastructure to make sure that data flows back and forth beautifully, so that engineers sat in Silverstone can see live what's happening on the dyno in Sakura.”
Newey’s role in building the relationship with Honda
Recent history has shown two very different chapters of Honda in F1: a problematic period with McLaren and success with Red Bull. Where does Cowell’s confidence come from that Aston Martin will follow the Red Bull model rather than the McLaren one?
“I think our team is engineering-led, and Honda are engineering-led as well. So as soon as you get into the engineering things, we talk the same language. The culture is the same. It's all about systems and what's best for the stopwatch on Saturday in qualifying, and what's the best way of covering 305 kilometres on Sunday. It's a relationship that I'm really enjoying.”
A further advantage in building that relationship, Cowell adds, is Adrian Newey. The designer knows Honda well, most recently from his stint at Red Bull. “It's a big benefit. Adrian knows, understands and respects them. That's the thing and that just helps all the conversations. The relationship is already there, so the conversations are into the engineering details swiftly.”
Together with Cowell’s engine background, it should form a strong foundation for the Honda–Aston Martin partnership. The collaboration is progressing according to plan, but Cowell knows that only next year’s on-track results matter – and exactly those remain impossible to predict for now.
“None of us can compare with our opponents yet. What I can see though is an engineering-led organisation that's pushing hard on performance development, on efficiency improvements, mass savings and chasing a tough reliability target. And their methods, their hunger, their timing ambition is really impressive to see.”
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