Aston Martin’s future partner Honda has ‘no objections whatsoever’ in working with Fernando Alonso despite his “GP2 engine” criticism
Honda have commented on the fans' suspicions of a conflict of interest since Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso had criticized their engines earlier.
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It’s official–one of the biggest engine manufacturers in the Formula One business, Honda, is going to come back to the pinnacle of motorsports after their exit at the end of 2021. This time, Honda will not be associated with Red Bull Racing, the team they had been suppliers for since 2019. The Japanese brand has entered into a contract with the up-and-coming team Aston Martin Racing, and it has been confirmed that Honda will make their comeback in 2026, holding hands with the Silverstone outfit.
But fans are now wondering about a possible conflict of interest once Honda comes on board with Aston Martin. This is because AMR is the current employers of Fernando Alonso, the two-time World Champion who had once openly ranted about the incompetence of the Honda engines. It was during Alonso’s time at McLaren when the Woking outfit was powered by Honda engines that the Asturian said those were “GP2 engines” at the Suzuka Grand Prix.
But Koji Watanabe, President of the Honda Racing Corporation, has assured that the Japanese company bear no hard feelings towards the Spaniard. He said, “I believe he [Fernando Alonso] is such a brand and respectable driver, but, like I said, the selection of drivers is up to the team to decide. So, if the team decides we’ll have Alonso as a driver again, we will have no objections whatsoever in him driving.”
Honda confirms they will have no hand in team selection for Aston Martin
A winning squad is made by the team members including the drivers, the mechanics, the engineers, and several more professionals who work day in and day out for the success of their team. As of now, Aston Martin seems to have a perfect balance of all these as they have shown massive improvement from seventh on the grid last year to a current position of second on the F1 points table.
With the arrival of Honda as their engine supplier, fans wondered if the brand would like to have a say in the team selection for Aston Martin. But Watanabe said, “Our stance remains unchanged in thinking the selection of the drivers is fully up to the team members and not something that a partner and supplier like us is supposed to be making. So, we’ll be leaving the driver selection to the team.“
In other news, Fernando Alonso took a huge risk in shifting to a new team, Aston Martin, at 41 years of age, and it seems to have paid off. He is currently third in the Championship Standings after the Red Bull duo, with four podium wins after five races. He is thoroughly impressed with his new team, and has claimed time and again that he believes in Lawrence Stroll’s vision for AMR. He even admitted he would like to have contact with the team once he is out of F1 at a recent interview.
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