Andy Cowell has no concerns about potential larger gaps in F1 2026 due to disparities in performance, as he dwells into Honda having just one team.
After some close running in the last couple of seasons, whether at the front or in the midfield, things could change in F1 2026 considering the new regulations. There could be some times with the best package, some moderate and some at the back, which could see larger gaps.
The last time F1 saw a power unit change, it resulted in Mercedes-powered teams getting a good start while others had to catch up. This time, there are more parties involved, with the addition of Audi and Red Bull Powertrains/Ford. Even for Honda, they have only one team to look after.
But Aston Martin’s Cowell has no concerns. He knows that there will be a team or two with the moderate to best package, but he feels others will catch up quick as they have always done in the past. He feels even the team at the front will have some weakness, which will help others to catch up.
“I don’t have any concerns about that,” said Cowell, who moved away from being the team principal to be the link between Aston Martin and Honda and Aramco for 2026. “That’s just natural competition when there’s a reset on everything. The industry’s shown that if there is a gap, it closes up quickly—that’s part of the sport.
“I’m sure we’ll see a team come up with the best aero package, a power unit manufacturer come up with the best PU. The tyres are new as well, so understanding the tyres, the energy deployment that we’ve already talked about—a team will be the best at that. And it’s unlikely that a team will be the best at all the individual parts. So it will balance out, I think,” summed up Cowell.
In terms of the drawback of Honda powering only one team, the Brit doesn’t see that as a problem on the large as well. He agrees that there will be less data churned out, but he feels the focus will be a lot on development, since production will be limited to begin with.
With Red Bull, Honda had a second team, but with Aston Martin, it will be back to like how it was with McLaren when they first entered the hybrid era. “I think there’s always a balance,” continued Cowell. “If you’ve got more teams, you get more track mileage. But if you have fewer teams, you can leave the point that you go from development into production later—so you have more time in the development phase. I think it’s going to be more down to the attention to detail rather than that.
“The test at Barcelona—three days of running. Are we all going to be doing 800 kilometres each day like we did in Bahrain 10 months ago? No. We’re going to be pulling everything together and making sure that everything works. The car will go around the track and come back under its own power.
It’s going to be that sort of thrill of the development phase, which is exactly what it was like in Jerez in 2014 when we first all rolled out. And cars did roll out at 09:00 in 2014 and did many laps. That’s the remarkable thing about this industry. There are some great engineers, a great supply chain, operationally awesome teams, and everybody’s pushing hard to do the best in their field,” summed up Cowell.
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