The AMR26, designed by Adrian Newey and powered by Honda’s new compact hybrid power unit, aims to dominate F1 in 2026. However, pre-season testing in Sakhir has cooled expectations: the car is off the pace compared to the top teams, held back by technical problems.
At the heart of the car lies Honda’s new hybrid engine, one of the most compact on the grid. The electric and thermal sections are fused into a single, tight block, lowering the center of gravity and freeing valuable chassis volume to optimize aerodynamic flow. In this new power unit, the battery, MGU-K, and turbocharged V6 are all packaged closely together, reducing lateral space compared to previous seasons.
A key innovation is hot-air cooling. The intercooler, positioned above the intake manifold, drastically shortens the airflow path from the compressor to the engine. The result is a responsive, immediate throttle feel, ideal for sudden acceleration on corner exits.
The radiators abandon the oblique 2025 orientation, opting for two almost parallel, horizontal units stacked on top of each other. This layout lowers the sidepods and centralizes mass for better stability, while channeling clean air to the diffuser for improved aerodynamic efficiency.
Honda has designed a power unit that prioritizes compactness: a bold gamble that generates more heat and requires “perforated” aerodynamics to vent it.
On track, however, theory hasn’t translated into success yet. The AMR26 features extreme packaging: skinny sidepods, a triangular airbox with limited airflow, and a sharp engine cover. At Sakhir, the consequences are clear: natural cooling is poor, the narrow sidepods and the bulge on the engine cover restrict air intake, leaving the unit struggling to manage the heat generated by its power.
On Day 2, after engine issues, Aston Martin opened additional vents on the engine cover bulge to release heat, sacrificing aerodynamics. The solution was not enough: with the rear tightly packaged for aerodynamic efficiency, the heat needed other exit paths. The team added low vents on the sides of the rearmost sidepods, reviving the concept used on the Red Bull RB20, where lower side exits expelled hot air without disturbing the main rear flow.
After an engine replacement on Day 1, Lance Stroll issued another warning yesterday: “We are 4 seconds slower than the top teams.” Honda-Newey’s concept could shine in the future, but Sakhir exposed immediate performance issues that need urgent solutions before Melbourne, and the engine’s reliability appears to be under pressure.
The extreme design of the AMR26 represents Adrian Newey’s classic “pushing the envelope” philosophy, but the initial data from Bahrain suggests that Honda’s pursuit of compactness may have crossed a dangerous thermal threshold. While the team has nearly two weeks to refine their cooling maps, the massive four-second gap reported by Stroll indicates that the fix may require more than just a few extra louvers if they hope to be competitive for the season opener.
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