Shintaro Orihara, Honda's chief engineer, acknowledged that Adrian Newey was right to question the experience of staff assigned to the new partnership between the Japanese manufacturer and Aston Martin in 2025. Newey noted in Melbourne that Honda had assigned many team members without prior Formula 1 experience.
Orihara explained that Honda rotates staff between road vehicle projects and Formula 1. Last year they brought in talented personnel from those other projects, some of whom had previously worked on the Red Bull project, the engineer told Motorsport.com.
"Probably, at the end of last year, our overall level of human resources development was not sufficient to match Formula 1," Orihara acknowledged. Winter testing presented difficult moments that, however, allowed the team to gain the necessary experience, he added.
Orihara indicated that although the staff had solid technical skills, they lacked practical experience in how to operate in the Formula 1 context. He noted that they have since made considerable progress in developing team capabilities and that he is confident they will be in a position to develop a solid power unit.
With the introduction of a new power unit at Zandvoort and additional aerodynamic components on the AMR26, Honda aims for Alonso and Stroll to score points in upcoming races.