Why Aston Martin’s car is as bad as Honda’s engine

Honda’s engine has been a lightning rod for criticism in a woeful start to its new Formula 1 partnership with Aston Martin.But Aston Martin’s car is at least as bad and while the prospect of short-term progress is at least greater on the chassis side, the team admits it must be “honest” about its part in the terrible deficit the AMR26 has at the start of 2026.Honda’s engine problems are well established, as it is down on power and suffers from poor reliability, but they do not explain everything that has gone wrong so far to leave Aston Martin around 3.5 seconds slower than the fastest pace in qualifying.As Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack said in Japan: “We are not great in high-speed corners …