TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Aston Martin Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll said on Tuesday the team is set to embark on a "development journey" as Formula One readies for its biggest technical overhaul in decades.
Speaking in Tokyo at an event to launch Aston Martin's partnership with Honda, Stroll had high hopes for the team's new power unit but acknowledged they would have no idea how it would stack up against their rivals until they get on track.
"We're all sitting here anxiously waiting to get on track and I really don't think we'll have the answer to that question before we get to Melbourne," he said.
"And even when we get to Melbourne, you know these rules and regulations will be in place for five years."
Formula One faces a new engine era in the upcoming season as well as the rule changes. The sport will see thinner and lighter cars and a 50/50 split on internal combustion, using sustainable fuel, and electric power.
Testing starts behind closed doors in Barcelona on January 26, before the 2026 championship begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in early March.
Honda unveiled the new power unit for the 2026 season at the event, marking the official start of its exclusive supply deal with Aston Martin.
"There'll be reliability issues, there'll be all sorts of things," Stroll said, adding that he believed it was the first time in Formula One history that teams faced a new chassis and power unit at the same time.
"There'll be a lot of issues to contend with, but we're very positive."
Aston Martin enters the season as a works team with Honda and with new team principal Adrian Newey leading the design of the new car.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said he believed electrification technology became more important this year in order to win given the engine's electric power usage.
"We want to show that Honda's technology is world class, even in the age of electrification," he said.
Andy Cowell, Aston Martin's chief strategy officer, said Honda and Aston Martin had set tough targets and were already deep into validation testing.
"We want to win. But we understand that Formula One is the pinnacle of motor sport," he said.
"It's really exciting," he added. "Pulling together an Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin Honda car is something that everybody is really revelling in."
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Irene Wang; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
