It addresses the conundrum of having all the benefits of a works engine without having to build one from scratch under the Aston name, while also taking away the necessity to share a power unit and other associated parts with a key rival.
It’s that reliance on a supplier who also wants to beat you on track that, in the words of Aston Martin Performance Technologies CEO Martin Whitmarsh, creates an “incompatibility”.
The Honda deal is one of the final pieces of the puzzle that has gradually been falling into place since Stroll took control of 'Team Silverstone' in the summer of 2018. He's hired the best engineers he could get, signed Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, and invested in a new factory and windtunnel. Now he's addressed the power unit issue.
On the face of it, Stroll appears to have the perfect set-up with his partnership with Mercedes, a team whose parent also owns a significant stake in the Aston Martin Lagonda road car company. A PU, gearbox and rear suspension package sourced from a winning outfit is a handy starting point, allowing the team to focus on everything else.
That philosophy worked well from the early days of Force India (initially with a gearbox and extra input from McLaren), through the Racing Point period, and into the current Aston Martin era. At times over those years the team had the fourth best car on the grid, but it always lagged behind the major players.
This year Aston made such a big step that the AMR23 has often been the second best car, ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari. That form might suggest that the next step of beating Red Bull and winning races and titles with a Mercedes customer package is within the team’s grasp.
Indeed, there may well be further forward progress over the last two seasons of the current arrangement prior to Honda’s arrival in 2026.
Source: Autosport