Honda will become Aston Martin F1 team's engine partner

Honda Motor Co. will return to Formula One racing by supplying engines to Aston Martin's F1 team starting in 2026 and competing as Aston Martin Aramco Honda.

Honda officially withdrew from F1 in 2021 but the automaker has continued to provide engines to current world champions Red Bull, who have already announced a deal with Ford from 2026.

The start of the partnership will coincide with new F1 rules that require engines to be up to 50 percent electric and for cars to use fully-sustainable ethanol as fuel.

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said F1's push for sustainability is in line with the company's carbon neutrality goals.

"The key for winning will be a compact, lightweight, and high-power electric motor with a high-performance battery capable of handling high and swift power output, as well as the energy management technology," he said.

"We believe that the technologies and know-how gained from this new challenge can potentially be applied directly to our future mass production electric vehicles, such as an electric flagship sports model, and electrification technologies in various areas," Mibe added.

"The partnership with Honda is the final piece in the jigsaw to establish Aston Martin Formula 1 as a top team capable of winning world titles," Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll said at a briefing at Honda’s Tokyo headquarters on Wednesday.

"We need to exploit every single area of our technical package and now a bespoke PU (power unit) is the important last step in that journey," he said.

Stroll has invested heavily, building a new factory and wind tunnel and recruiting top staff from rival teams while also attracting significant title sponsorship from Cognizant and Saudi Aramco.

Renault-owned Alpine, Audi, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains and Red Bull Ford will be the other engine manufacturers from 2026.

Honda Racing Corp. President Koji Watanabe said the manufacturer had no plans to supply power units to other teams.

Honda's association with F1 stretches almost 60 years, from engine supplier to fully-fledged team. In 2021, Max Verstappen won the Drivers' Championship for Red Bull Racing Honda. Prior to that success, Honda had a short-lived partnership with McLaren from 2015 to 2017.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report