What to expect from Honda’s long-awaited F1 power unit upgrade at Zandvoort

While Aston Martin introduced its first major upgrade package for the AMR26 in Hungary, Honda will bring its first update of the 2026 Formula 1 season to Zandvoort.

With Adrian Newey’s first upgrade package of the year, the deficit on the chassis side has been reduced considerably. Aston Martin is still a long way from where it wants to be, but figures from Paceteq show that its deficit in terms of race pace was “just” 2.034 seconds per lap in Hungary.

During the preceding weekends at Silverstone and Spa, that deficit was still more than five seconds per lap, although there are two important caveats. Firstly, both iconic circuits are much longer, while the Hungaroring is also less dependent on power unit performance.

The latter remains a weakness for Aston Martin, although Honda hopes to make a step forward at the start of the second half of the season with its first ADUO upgrade of the year.

That upgrade is entirely focused on the internal combustion engine, which general trackside manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara still identifies as Honda’s biggest weakness compared to the competition.

“Our engine performance is definitely poor compared to other manufacturers. So probably the most important point to improve now is our engine performance because, as I mentioned, the gap is quite huge.

Shintaro Orihara, Honda, during an interview with Ronald Vording, Motorsport.com during the F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Photo by: Honda Racing Corporation

“Without improving our combustion engine performance, [the rest doesn’t help]. Let’s say, if we improve energy management, that doesn’t help if the engine performance is poor,” Orihara explained during an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.

“So now we purely focus on improving our engine performance. Once we achieve our target there, then maybe we can optimise some other small areas. But still our main focus point is the engine performance, the combustion engine.”

Honda knows that closing the deficit in terms of outright power will take time, meaning further upgrades will be required after this first step – with some of the most optimistic estimates suggesting a gain of up to 30bhp.

When asked about the specific target for the Zandvoort upgrade, Orihara outlines an objective similar to Aston Martin’s in Hungary: getting back to what is referred to as the “racing field”.

That has been achieved on the chassis side, but Orihara stresses that the same needs to happen on the power unit side.

“Our target is to get back to the racing field, to a situation where the 10 milliseconds or 20 milliseconds that we try so hard to find every weekend, can actually make a difference.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

Honda faces fresh driveability challenge with new engine

Because the power unit is undergoing significant changes, the Zandvoort upgrade also brings another question mark. It concerns a term that has been discussed frequently during the opening months of this F1 season: drivability, the feeling the drivers get from the power unit.

“We developed our tools to optimise our driveability. We have made good progress and we were close to what we wanted to achieve,” Orihara said.

“But when we introduce the spec 2 engine, the combustion characteristics will change significantly. Well, maybe not significantly, but there will be a big difference.

“And then engine behaviour will be changed in the cornering phase as well. So yeah, we need to develop our driveability again.”

It goes hand in hand with Aston Martin’s upgrades on the chassis side, which also have an impact on the drivability of the power unit.

“With the car spec changing, cornering speeds will be much higher. And then demands on driveability will be changing as well.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

It sounds as though Honda will face the same drivability challenge it encountered at the start of this year, but Orihara stresses that the Japanese manufacturer will not be back to square one under any circumstances. After all, the lessons learned can still be applied to the new specification.

“There has been big progress through this first half of the season. We developed our optimised way [for drivability],” he said.

“We will introduce our new engine and probably we need [to do] more work to improve driveability again, but now we know how we need to do it and where we should improve.

“That has been a big learning, and we can carry over that learning point to our B spec engine.”

It is partly because of this aspect – working on drivability – that Aston Martin’s recent filming day at the Hungaroring with the new power unit was so important. It has already provided both parties with some initial data to analyse, helping them avoid unpleasant surprises at Zandvoort.

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– The Motorsport.com Team