Honda will offer an early glimpse of its new power unit ahead of its full-time return to Formula 1 with Aston Martin in 2026.

After withdrawing from the sport at the end of 2021, the Japanese manufacturer continued providing technical support to Red Bull before entering a technical partnership with Aston Martin following its successful stint with the team.

The engine will be officially unveiled at a Tokyo event on January 20, ahead of Aston Martin’s AMR26 car reveal on February 9.

Honda was the first manufacturer to reveal the sound of its 2026 powertrain last month and recently released images and a short silhouette video of the engine at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe acknowledged challenges in developing the new engine but emphasised that the issues are not “fatal” and can be resolved.

During a recent media interview, Watanabe revealed:

“In this situation, we are quietly concentrating on improving performance and reliability. Not everything is going well, so there are many areas where we are struggling, but nothing fatal has happened that we cannot overcome.”

“Aston Martin also wants to keep building cars that reflect Adrian Newey’s vision, so I think the next step for us on the power unit side is to figure out how to adapt to that.”

“If doing so increases our competitiveness and makes us more likely to win, then we’ll do whatever it takes!”

“We’re advancing development by incrementally assessing performance gains from integrating various components. Some prove successful, others fail unexpectedly – it’s a mixed bag.”