Honda is making a significant change at the top of its Formula 1 power unit programme, with Yoichiro Fukao set to replace Tetsushi Kakuda as F1 Project Leader from 1 October. The reshuffle comes as the Japanese manufacturer prepares a major rethink of its 2027 engine after the current RA626H failed to achieve the performance targets established for Aston Martin.
The move also sends a clear message about Honda’s Formula 1 intentions. Despite growing speculation over Lawrence Stroll exploring alternative power unit options for Aston Martin from 2028, Honda has no intention of walking away and has acted before the end of the 2026 season to accelerate its recovery.
Honda appoints Yoichiro Fukao as new F1 Project Leader
Honda did not achieve the objectives it had set for the power unit fitted with the ADUO development package that debuted at Zandvoort on the Aston Martin AMR26. The company’s senior management has therefore decided to intervene immediately rather than wait until the conclusion of the Formula 1 season.
In a surprise announcement following the Spanish Grand Prix, Honda confirmed that Tetsushi Kakuda will leave his role as HRC’s F1 Project Leader on 1 October. He will be replaced by Yoichiro Fukao, currently Deputy Leader of the F1 Project and head of the software division, who will be promoted to become the programme’s new Large Project Leader.
The leadership change follows a difficult start to the new works partnership between Honda and Aston Martin. Adrian Newey has previously acknowledged that the relationship improved after a problematic beginning, with Aston Martin and Honda working to strengthen their technical cooperation as the season progressed.
Honda RA626H falls short of planned power target
Reports that Lawrence Stroll has been investigating other power unit possibilities for 2028 are likely to have increased the pressure at Honda’s headquarters. Despite the development concessions permitted by the FIA and work carried out at Honda’s Sakura research centre, the RA626H has not recovered the internal-combustion performance deficit to Mercedes and Red Bull that the manufacturer had planned to close.
That situation has prompted a change of leadership within the HRC Formula 1 operation. Rather than treating the current difficulties as a reason to reconsider its participation, Honda appears determined to respond with a more aggressive technical programme.
It is perhaps the clearest indication yet that the Japanese manufacturer does not intend to abandon Formula 1. Honda returned as Aston Martin’s works partner after the successful era that produced four Drivers’ Championships with Max Verstappen and Red Bull, and it does not want to repeat the withdrawals that have punctuated its Formula 1 history.
Honda plans more radical 2027 F1 engine
Fukao’s appointment is intended to inject fresh energy into HRC’s technical structure. One concern is that Honda’s 2026 power unit project remained too closely linked to knowledge developed with the previous-generation V6 hybrid that had proved so successful, without fully recognising how fundamentally different the requirements of the new regulations would be.
Honda itself had acknowledged before the season that the new regulations represented an almost complete technical reset. The company now intends to make a decisive break with aspects of the RA626H currently used by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
With additional development opportunities available under the FIA framework, Honda’s 2027 engine is expected to feature major changes. According to current indications, the cylinder head could be completely redesigned to allow more aggressive combustion-chamber solutions and make better use of the potential offered by Aramco’s sustainable fuel.
The challenge is particularly important because the power unit is central to Aston Martin’s long-term works-team project. The Silverstone squad gave up its previous customer status precisely to gain the integration benefits of having a dedicated engine partner under the new regulations.
Fukao tasked with strengthening Honda’s work with Adrian Newey
Yoichiro Fukao will also be expected to build a closer relationship with Adrian Newey and Aston Martin’s engineers at Silverstone, strengthening a technical partnership that has so far failed to deliver the results expected from such an ambitious project.
Andy Cowell had already been assigned an important role in improving coordination with Honda. The former Mercedes power unit chief moved away from his Aston Martin CEO and team principal responsibilities to focus more closely on the technical relationship between the Silverstone team, Honda and its other key partners.
Cowell’s period at the head of Aston Martin did not leave the impact that had been hoped for, but his expertise as the former leader of Mercedes’ power unit operation is difficult to question. The implication is that Honda now needs to make better use of that experience as development intensifies.
The hope in Sakura is that the leadership change will unlock the technical potential that undoubtedly exists within HRC but may have remained constrained for too long. Fukao’s promotion therefore represents more than a simple management reshuffle: it is part of Honda’s attempt to reset its Formula 1 programme and produce a substantially stronger power unit for Aston Martin in 2027.
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