The possibility is one of the more intriguing stories to emerge over the April holidays, and while it sounds far-fetched, history shows that anything can happen in F1, especially when juggling team identities and power unit suppliers.

The 2026 season will see a shakeup of engine partners, with Sauber leaving Ferrari to become Audi, and Red Bull and AlphaTauri parting ways with Honda to run new Ford-backed engines.

Honda’s position remains unclear. Encouraged by Max Verstappen’s double, the company is reconsidering its plans to quit F1 and has its name on the list of manufacturers to register with the FIA ​​in 2026.

That doesn’t mean Honda will be involved, but at least it has its foot in the door. If it does intend to participate, it needs to have projects already underway through 2026, and do so on the back of cost caps and other constraints that now apply to engine makers.

Honda also needs to find a new partner team after delays forced Red Bull to take control of its own destiny and build its own factory in Milton Keynes.

Red Bull RB18 racing car with Honda logo

photographer: George Piola

“F1 is making a big move towards electrification and carbon neutrality is a company-wide goal for us at Honda,” Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe said in February.

“We felt that the future direction of F1 was in line with our goals, so we decided to register as a power unit manufacturer.

“We’re curious where F1 is going, F1 is the top racing category, what’s going to happen as more electrification happens? We want to keep an eye on that. That’s why we decided to register as a PU manufacturer.

“After we completed our registration, we were contacted by multiple F1 teams. At the moment, we want to keep a close eye on where F1 is going to see how things are going. At the moment, we don’t have any concrete decisions on whether we will return to F1.”

It’s all very vague, but it’s clear there will be interest if the right partner can be found. Unless it’s pegged to a new entrant, the realistic options are three current Mercedes customers; McLaren, Williams and Aston Martin.

Logically, all three are currently examining possible options for 2026 and beyond.

“We’re still at the moment making sure we understand all the options available to this team,” Williams owner James Walls said recently.

“But no, we’re not locked in by Mercedes. We’re still in the review process. We’ve got to make a decision soon, like all teams. I think it’s a bit later at the end of the year. So a little bit before that.”

Fernando Alonso, McLaren MCL32 Honda, stopped due to engine failure

Photography: Dom Romney / motorsport pictures

A Honda-McLaren reunion will have to overcome all the baggage associated with their last partnership, which ended in an acrimonious split at the end of 2017, but both sides will have to explore all avenues – the Woking team have spoken to Red Bull about Ford Possible deal for engine.

So what about Aston Martin? The sports car maker clearly has strong corporate ties to Mercedes, and on the face of it, a switch to Honda doesn’t seem to make any business sense.

Having said that, Lawrence Stroll’s ambition is to challenge for a world title, and the strides his team have taken this year suggest he must be taken seriously. Logically, to become a true title contender, part of a long-term strategy must include reducing or even eliminating reliance on major competitors.

The first steps will be seen shortly after, when the team switches to its own wind tunnel at Silverstone and no longer shares the Mercedes factory at Brackley. The next step will be to use fewer Mercedes-sourced parts, which really means the rear suspension and gearbox. Sauber has switched to producing its own gearboxes instead of using Ferrari’s as its partnership with Audi has grown, and Aston could follow a similar route.

Back in December, Aston technical director Dan Fallows stressed there were no plans to reduce reliance on Mercedes, but he left the door open for future changes.

“I think we’re very open to these kinds of things,” he said. “The team has benefited enormously from the relationship with Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23

Photography: Jack Grant / motorsport pictures

“As we move into the future and do things our own way or develop our own projects, we know very well that we have to be able to do at least as well as them, if not better than them. Capabilities that must be established before deciding.

“Honestly, it’s open to what we see in the future, really. Lawrence is very open about his ambitions for this team, and I think we always have to evaluate the next thing that can help us become more competitive.” power thing.”

The key consideration is that once you have your own in-house transmission capability, it becomes much easier to switch engine suppliers because you are no longer dependent on a package deal. It also gives you complete freedom in car design and concept.

The above steps could happen even if Mercedes powers the AMR26 in 2026, but the bespoke engine would be Stroll’s final step towards independence. If anyone can figure out how to get an Aston chassis to run a Honda engine – with or without the latter’s official badge – then Stroll is certainly the one who can make it happen.

There’s also a bigger picture to cover those complex branding issues, especially when you start thinking about “Team Silverstone” or “Stroll F1.”

lawrence stroll

Photography: Erik Junius

The former Racing Point organization is now known as Aston Martin, as part of Stroll’s marketing plan for the road car manufacturer. After five years on the green, there’s nothing stopping him from changing tack in 2026, successfully boosting Aston’s profile.

In theory, Stroll could use any chassis name he wants in 2026, provided it secures him an exclusive deal with the most successful powerplant manufacturer currently on the grid. If that means giving up Aston’s identity, so be it.

It even opens up the possibility that Honda might once again own (or co-own) a work force under its own name and run by Stroll.

The appeal of the Honda is obvious, as it represents a clean sheet of paper. A reunion with McLaren will have to overcome an embarrassing history linked to a divorce in 2017, while a tumultuous split with Williams came in 1987 – that was a lifetime ago – and Grove may just be deemed not competitive enough . As Vowles pointed out, time is ticking, and Honda can’t wait to see if Williams improves in the next year or two.

Aston, by contrast, has shown it has made real progress and with the move to a new factory – and more time for a restructured technical staff to coalesce under Fallows – it could reasonably It is assumed that there is greater potential to be tapped in the coming years.

Stroll has a trump card in Martin Whitmarsh, his right-hand man at Aston.

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal, McLaren

Photography: Andrew Ferraro / motorsport pictures

Whitmarsh worked at McLaren-Honda during the Ayrton Senna era and a little over two decades after parting ways with the Japanese manufacturer for the first time, he oversaw the development that led to the 2015 Reunion negotiations.

In 2014, McLaren ran under the new regulations for a season with a Mercedes hybrid engine before Honda entered. In retrospect, it’s easy to suggest that the Woking team should have stayed with their old mates longer, not least because Mercedes had the best engine early in the rules.

However, in an interesting parallel to Aston’s current situation, Whitmarsh remains adamant that McLaren must accept a factory deal from Honda when available. Continuing as a Mercedes customer was not an option in the long term, and not just because Ron Dennis had a falling out with then-Stuttgart boss Dieter Zetsche.

“It was a reasonable solution for a few years,” Whitmarsh told me a few years ago, before returning to F1 with Aston.

“But good, competitive engineering deals don’t come around very often. You have to get it. You want to win every year. But in the end, you have to win long-term. You have to live with that pain.”

Crucially, given his current status in Japan, Whitmarsh parted ways with McLaren quickly and was not involved in the disastrous implosion of his relationship with Honda in the ensuing years.

“I signed the contract and walked away,” he said. “They give free engines, they give tens of millions of dollars a year for chassis development. They pay most of the drivers, they pay the PR. That’s worth over $100 million a year to the team. We knew we needed this A lot of money, we need jobs to win.”

McLaren MP4-30 nose, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia

Photography: Mark Sutton

Because he wasn’t part of the McLaren fallout. To be sure, Whitmarsh has a good relationship with Honda, and he knows better than most what it takes to seal a deal. It probably didn’t hurt that Honda also knew Aston technical director Fallows from his Red Bull days.

“They actually have a racing culture, probably more than any OEM,” said Honda’s Whitmarsh. “Remember, Mr. Honda was alive for the first time. But they still have that racing culture in the team. They are as thorough as they are, they are as proud as they are.

“When you look at engines that have won in F1, they’ve usually done it by improving on tradition rather than by huge innovation. Usually, when you’re a manufacturer or someone trying to innovate, it’s a mess. I think you learn the lesson , and steered it. Honda was slow on that front. But Ron went into aggressive mode, and that’s when people shut down. Instead of managing them, he decided to hit them.”

There is also an elephant in the room that cannot be ignored. Current Aston driver Fernando Alonso is in the middle of a breakdown in the McLaren/Honda relationship, and while there are some oddities going on, a reunion between the Spaniard and the Japanese firm may need some massage.

Of course, that’s assuming the two-time F1 world champion will still be racing in 2026, the year he’ll turn 45…