Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara warned ahead of the Miami Grand Prix that upgrades due in Miami will not produce any major or visible improvements to Aston Martin’s engine performance. He said the 2026 Honda power unit has been underperforming and has suffered reliability problems and severe vibrations, issues that have disrupted performance and consistency. The AMR26 has managed just one finish in four events, including China’s Sprint.

Teams had hoped a five-week F1 break imposed after escalations in the Middle East would allow Honda to resolve the flaws, but work during that pause and countermeasures introduced before Suzuka produced only limited gains. Honda and Aston Martin carried out intensive collaboration, including static testing at Honda’s Sakura facility and work in Japan and the UK, and applied fixes that produced some progress. Expectations were high around Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin design.

Orihara said further fixes will be applied in Miami and later in the season, but he does not expect a noticeable jump in power-unit performance at Miami. He pointed to Miami’s track profile, with long full-throttle sections, many slow-speed corners and high ambient temperatures, and to the Sprint weekend’s single 90-minute practice session as factors that complicate efforts to improve driveability, energy management and cooling. Under the new regulations Honda and Aston Martin are prioritizing driveability, energy management and cooling over headline power gains, meaning any recovery is likely to come through patient, incremental improvements rather than a sudden turnaround at Miami.