Honda has been tipped to create the best powertrain in Formula 1 during the next regulation cycle as new engine regulations will shake up the formbook next season.

F1 introduces revolutionary engine regulations next season in the first major engine shake-up since the introduction of the hybrid regulations in 2014, with a move to greater levels of electrification and the introduction of sustainable fuels.

Otmar Szafnauer: Honda has the resources and infrastructure to create the best powertrain

F1 2026 thus represents the first chance for the power unit to be a major differentiator in performance between teams for several years, with the sport coming off the back of a four-year engine freeze which locked all the current manufacturers into their current designs.

This was done in order to curtail research and development costs and ensure stable competition with Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, and Renault, which have all achieved roughly similar performance levels from their power units.

While Honda continues to supply the two Red Bull teams with power units, the Japanese manufacturer technically pulled out of Formula 1 as a factory supplier after the F1 2021 season – the beginning of the engine freeze convinced Honda to continue a supply deal for Red Bull Racing and the then-AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls) team.

Honda is set to return to Formula 1 as a full-blown supplier in 2026, having agreed on a works supply deal with Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin team as Red Bull has embarked on a partnership with Ford to create Red Bull Powertrains for its two teams.

Alongside RBPT and Honda, Formula 1’s power unit manufacturers will include Mercedes, Ferrari, and Audi.

One of the major talking points ahead of F1 2026 is which manufacturer is likely to get the new power unit regulations right at the first time of asking, given the huge advantage getting it right may have on the competitive pecking order after half a decade of stability.

Otmar Szafnauer, who most recently served as Alpine and Aston Martin’s F1 team boss before departing on gardening leave from Alpine in mid-2023, is a former veteran of Honda motorsport, having been on the board of Honda’s F1 team and becoming vice-president of Honda Racing Developments in the mid-2000s.

Szafnauer believes Honda, who infamously withdrew from F1 on the eve of what appeared to be a near-certain success in 2009 as the team evolved into Brawn GP just weeks later and then repeated their withdrawal after championship success with Max Verstappen in 2021, will be in Formula 1 for the long-haul with Aston Martin.

“I think things are different now,” he told PlanetF1.com. “I think Honda wants to continue to achieve in Formula 1.

“They’ve achieved great success with Red Bull.

“They’ve won another Drivers Championship [in 2024] and Honda, in the time that I’ve worked with them, has been the quickest to develop themselves out of a hole.

“In 2000, when I first started working with them when I was at British American Racing, they didn’t have the lightest or most powerful power train in Formula 1. They were a bit lacking when they first came back.

“By 2004, they had the highest output and lowest weight. So it took them four years to go from not so competitive to the best.”

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Honda’s initial foray into the current engine regulations was in 2015 with McLaren – a year after its current competitors – and the Japanese manufacturer initially struggled to close the gap created by its rivals’ headstart. This led to constant struggles to qualify and race competitively, and these struggles led then-McLaren driver Fernando Alonso to decry the Honda engine as a ‘GP2 engine’ at Honda’s home race in Japan in 2015.

McLaren and Honda parted ways after 2017, with Red Bull taking the chance on a Honda switch for its sister team Toro Rosso in 2018 before following suit with Red Bull Racing the following year. Unlike with McLaren, Honda immediately gelled with Red Bull’s operations and became race winners later that same season before winning the championship with Verstappen in 2021.

Saafnauer believes that even if Honda doesn’t immediately have the best powertrain in F1 2026, it won’t take long for the Japanese manufacturer to rise to the top.

“If I look back at what they did with these regulations when they came in with McLaren, again, they didn’t start off with the best powertrain and ended up with the best powertrain,” he said.

“They will absolutely end up with the best powertrain. They work hard. They have the resources to do it, they have the infrastructure to do it.

“They have smart powertrain engineers. And one thing Honda has always prided itself on is being a powertrain company, a powertrain-led company.

“So every CEO at Honda Motor Company has been an engine engineer. They’ve had no other CEOs other than engine engineers.”

Recently, Honda Racing Corporation President Koji Watanabe spoke about the manufacturer’s progress in creating its F1 2026 power unit, deeming the process “Not so easy” as he admitted, “We are struggling. Now we are trying our best to show the result next year.”

Asked specifically by PlanetF1.com what has been causing concern for Honda during its preparations for the new regulations, Watanabe said, “Everything is new. The [electric] motor is a new 355-kW, very compact one we need. Also the lightweight battery, it’s not so easy to develop. And also the small engine with the big power.

“Everything is very difficult, but we try our best.”

Put to him whether he believes this admission could be Honda being completely honest in its assessment of its progress or whether it could be seen as posturing in a bid to downplay its true performance level, Szafnauer said, “I know Watanabe-san and I’m not sure it’s posturing. He may be. Who knows? I mean, it’s hard to know.

“But, if they are struggling, those struggles won’t be for a long time – they will get on top of it, and I’ve seen it time and again.”

With such uncertainty over which engine manufacturer may get things immediately right for F1 2026, Szafnauer pondered the question of which power unit he’d look to put in the back of a car if he were in a position to make such a choice.

In 2013, while at Force India as chief operating officer, Szafnauer was involved in the decision to stick with Mercedes power for the new hybrid regulations – a move that worked wonders as Force India emerged as clear leaders in the midfield with points scored in all but two rounds of the championship.

While Honda may end up with the best powertrain in the future, Szafnauer reckons it could be Mercedes who gets it right straight away.

“I remember making this decision in 2014 where Vijay [Mallya, Force India owner and team principal] and Bob Fernley [deputy team principal] were adamant that we had to go with Ferrari,” he said.

“Andy Green [technical director] and I were adamant that Mercedes was the right way to go.

“So, gun to my head at three in the morning, if I get it wrong, you’re gonna pull the trigger, I’d go with Mercedes.”

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