Honda replaces F1 engine chief after slow start with Aston Martin

Honda has replaced the leader of its Formula 1 engine programme after a painful start to its partnership with Aston Martin.

Yoichiro Fukao will become Large Project Leader of the F1 project, taking over from Tetsushi Kakuda, who led power-unit development this season. Honda announced the switch on Monday, 14 September, with the change taking effect on 1 October, according to Honda Racing.

Honda called it a planned transition. The company said the aim was to pass technical expertise reliably to the next generation of engineers. It added that moving early should build a stronger development setup and deliver a highly competitive power unit, the hybrid engine system that powers a modern F1 car.

The results explain the pressure. Honda and Aston Martin sit 10th of 11 teams in the constructors' championship, the points table that ranks the teams, with a best finish of ninth for Fernando Alonso at the Dutch Grand Prix BBC Sport. The shortfall is said to be worth at least a second per lap. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso was 2.2 seconds off the fastest time when he was knocked out in the first part of qualifying.

There are small signs of movement. Honda brought its first engine upgrade of the year to Zandvoort for the Dutch race. Head of trackside operations Shintaro Orihara said the team's own data showed a step forward in performance after the update.

The contrast with recent history is stark. Honda powered Red Bull and Max Verstappen to four straight world titles from 2021 to 2024. The Japanese manufacturer had announced in October 2020 that it would leave F1 at the end of 2021, then kept supplying Red Bull until the end of 2025. In May 2023 it decided to return in an official capacity for 2026, joining Aston Martin as its works partner, the sole team it builds factory engines for.

Alonso knows this script. He spent three seasons from 2015 to 2017 wrestling uncompetitive Honda engines at McLaren. He is out of contract with Aston Martin at the end of this season and has not confirmed whether he will stay in F1.

For fans, this means Honda is trying to fix 2026 while protecting what comes next. Fukao was deputy leader of the project, so this is continuity with a harder edge rather than a fresh start from outside.