“Honda has a good memory”, tensions with Alonso at Aston Martin are predicted
The past between Honda and Fernando Alonso is turbulent and painful for both parties. However, fate has brought them together again, and they will have to prove that they are capable of forgetting and building a solid relationship for 2026.
One of the main reasons that led Fernando Alonso to return to McLaren after that traumatic 2007 for the Spanish driver was Honda. A lover of Japanese culture and aware of the brand's successes in Formula 1, the Asturian saw the McLaren-Honda project as a perfect alternative to the exhausted period with Ferrari.
However, Honda soon demonstrated how much they had underestimated the complex hybrid power units that had started functioning in the top category a year before their return.
“I know how the Japanese are and how they operate, and I don’t think there’s much love at this moment”
While their rivals had a couple of years to prepare and also a full season of competition, the Japanese arrived in 2015 with a powerless, unreliable, and lacking in driveability, the Anglo-Saxon term used to define drivability (progressive power delivery, non-intrusive regenerative braking, etc.).
After almost a decade of sterile pursuit of the third world title, those three years of penance at McLaren-Honda brought out the worst in Fernando Alonso, who claimed that everyone in the team was ready to win, except the Japanese. Or that famous “GP2 engine” he shouted to the world at Honda's home in Suzuka.
Faced with the moral and honor of the Japanese, which many believe still endures in the current members of Honda, the successful one that took the world by storm alongside Red Bull and is now preparing for the start of a new era with Aston Martin.
Honda has not forgotten
Ralf Schumacher is one of the many paddock members predicting friction between Honda and Fernando Alonso. The former German driver, now a commentator and analyst for Sky Sports Germany, claims that his experience with Japanese manufacturers like Honda and Toyota allows him to assert that resentment is one of the Japanese qualities.
“I had the opportunity to work with two Japanese manufacturers and learned one thing: they have a great memory,” he asserts, the former driver of Jordan-Mugen Honda and the official Toyota team, among others.
“I don’t think things were like that back then, when McLaren and Fernando Alonso, in particular, were still at their peak, when he was not exactly known as the team player with the kind character he now portrays, or that he obviously is now,” adds Ralf Schumacher.
The younger brother of Michael Schumacher claims that “Honda took note of that, and some prejudices persist, I’m quite sure of that. Perhaps that can be resolved over time, but I know how the Japanese are and how they operate, and I don’t think there’s much love at this moment.”
Honda wants Verstappen
When the agreement between Honda and Aston Martin was made official, both the Japanese and Fernando Alonso ensured to create an appropriate narrative for a friendly and positive reunion.
However, Honda has always done it in a modest and simply correct manner, in a tone very different from the one they persistently use to publicly declare their desire to work with Max Verstappen in the future.
It is a fact that Honda and Fernando Alonso will have to work together in 2026, precisely the first year of the new regulations and when more collaboration will be needed between both parties. What happens from 2027 will depend on several factors. One, whether Alonso wants to continue in F1; two, whether Verstappen decides to leave Red Bull; three, whether Aston Martin wins the auction against Mercedes.
Fuente: F1oversteer.com
