Towards approval as late as possible for the 2026 Honda engine?

Just over 10 years after its controversial arrival in the hybrid era with McLaren, is Honda already on the edge? In any case, the Japanese manufacturer has not been giving the most reassuring speech for several weeks.

Last January, Koji Watanabe, president of HRC (Honda Racing Corporation), had suggested that the Japanese clan was " beat " while he was in full development of his new power unit which will see him exclusively supply Aston Martin starting next year.

« We are currently doing our best to achieve results next year., he added. Everything is new. The engine (electric) 355 KW is new, very compact. The lightweight battery is also not easy to develop. And also the small engine with great power (in reference to the 475hp thermal engine compared to almost 800 today). It's all very difficult, but we're doing our best. »

Honda's time trial

As the machine runs at full speed to arrive ready for the first Grand Prix of the season in 2026, Honda has made a new clarification regarding its project. This time it is Tetsushi Kakuda, head of the program F1 at HRC, who spoke.

On the agenda? The question of homologation of the new V6, which the Japanese plan to postpone until the last moment. We are aiming for approval in February 2026, " he explains. A tight timing since it will logically take place just a few weeks before the start of the season.

Nevertheless, Tetsuhi Kakuda wanted to reassure people about the progress of the project, even though the first reports were far from reassuring. Since we started a bit late, we want to push things back until the very last moment., continues the leader. It's hard to say exactly what percentage of progress we've made, but I think we've reached an important milestone. »

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