Three races remain in the 2026 Formula 1 season, and for Aston Martin, the end of this disappointing season can’t come quickly enough.

It has been a rough year for the Silverstone-based team, which had high hopes of competing amid the new regulations and the addition of legendary designer Adrian Newey, who took over as team principal. Unfortunately for Aston Martin and the Stroll family, it has been the team’s worst season since returning to the grid in 2021, with only seven points through 20 races. Aston Martin ranks 10th in the Constructors’ Championship, only ahead of Cadillac, which joined the Formula 1 grid as a brand new entrant this year.

For many teams, upgrades and developments throughout a season address problems, but throughout the grand prix schedule, they have continued to be plagued with issues and have very few positives to take from the year.

Aston Martin’s PU Problems Persist

The problems started almost immediately, with the AMR26 suffering severe vibrations that forced Fernando Alonso to retire on Lap 21 of the Australian Grand Prix. Lance Stroll’s car had similar issues, and he eventually finished 15 laps down after limping around for data-gathering purposes.

With Newey able to work on improving the aerodynamic side of the car, which ultimately led to a B-spec being introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the main issue has primarily been reliability and power issues with the team’s Honda power unit.

The team has struggled for pace all year, regularly finishing towards the back of the grid, and Stroll made recent comments on how much Aston Martin was losing compared to the rest of the field.

“We’re really struggling on the engine side. We know that, so a lot of work to be done,” he told reporters before the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. “We’re missing two seconds [a lap] in engines, so it’s difficult.”

With Alonso finishing qualifying in Malaysia two seconds behind pole sitter Max Verstappen, Stroll’s comments suggest that there is a lot more the car could offer if Honda’s power unit was on par with its competitors, such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and even Red Bull Powertrains.

Throughout the year, Aston Martin have also struggled to see out races largely due to reliability issues, which have seen Alonso retire from seven races and Stroll retire from 13. Such issues have limited what either driver could do, with Alonso claiming all of the team’s points with a season-high P8 coming in Malaysia. Stroll, meanwhile, has had the worst of it and also achieved his best performance in Malaysia with a P12 finish, with just six race finishes.

Stroll has had such a difficult year that he is one retirement away from tying the Formula 1 record for most DNFs in a season, which is currently held by two drivers: Andrea de Cesaris (Minardi 1986, Brabham 1987) and Rubens Barrichello (Stewart 1997). With three races left, and Stroll having retired from seven of his last nine races, there is a chance that the Canadian could claim the record outright, which would add to his unwanted record of most Q1 exits in Formula 1 history.

Stroll’s latest retirement, which came early in the São Paulo Grand Prix, was once again a reliability issue with the car’s battery, but the root cause of the issue is not likely to be known before the end of the season. Honda will spend the next few weeks tracing this issue so that it can be addressed before the 2027 season, which is already likely to start with marginal improvements from this season.

The Race recently reported that there is already a plan to phase in upgrades throughout the 2027 season, with work already underway to address this. However, it does mean that Aston Martin’s 2026 problems are not likely to disappear by the time the team arrives in Bahrain in March, and it could be a slow start to next season.

Honda Upgrades Need To Excel in 2027

With Aston Martin already looking likely to be starting next season on the back foot, with little improvement on what is currently achievable, Honda needs to introduce genuinely impactful upgrades throughout 2027.

The Silverstone team were hoping to draw on Honda’s hugely successful run with Red Bull Racing, but the issues faced by the team have led to serious questions over the supplier’s long-term future in Formula 1.

Honda had already decided to leave the sport but was drawn back in by Aston Martin to be a works team. If improvements cannot be made, there’s a chance their return is short-lived.

Having invested hundreds of millions in the team, owner Lawrence Stroll, father of Lance, will not want to see Aston Martin stuck at the back of the grid for much longer. If results do not improve, it could force Stroll Sr. to look for an alternate supplier for 2028 and beyond.

Former Formula 1 driver and current Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle recently spoke on the Aston Martin owner’s mindset.

“We were talking to Lawrence Stroll, the boss, about it. He’s at his wit’s end,” Brundle said. “He doesn’t know what to do about these endless reliability issues and non-finishes in the team.”

The possibility of Aston Martin parting ways with Honda may seem unlikely so soon after beginning the partnership, but there were rumors in the paddock that the team was potentially interested in working with Red Bull Powertrains, who have impressed many in their debut season. Red Bull CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies downplayed the rumors, commenting that the team was only looking to supply the two Red Bull-owned teams for now.

While RBPT may not have the capacity or interest in supplying other teams right now, continued success with its power unit could open the door to partnerships in the future.

The rumors gained plenty of attention, though, and in the world of Formula 1, when there is smoke, there is often fire. Stroll won’t accept years of disappointing results, so if Honda’s phased upgrades do not deliver and the team continues to face problems and poor results, the partnership will likely come to an end.