Formula 1 News: 2026 Japanese GP Friday Press Conference
2026 Japanese GP at Suzuka Friday Press Conference Highlights, followed by the full Transcript.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Participants:
– Andrea Stella (Team Principal, McLaren)
– Ayao Komatsu (Team Principal, Haas)
– Koji Watanabe (Honda representative, power unit supplier to Aston Martin Aramco)
McLaren – Andrea Stella
– China GP battery failures resolved: Both cars missed the race due to separate electrical/power-unit battery faults (not the same issue). Problem fully understood; repairs applied where possible. Full confidence in HPP fixes — no repeat expected.
“We trust 100 per cent that HPP have put in place remedials… We are definitely looking forward here to having a regular weekend.”
– Oscar Piastri’s situation: No racing laps yet this season (DNF China + Australia grid spin). He’s slightly on the back foot with the new regs (energy management is critical), but learning heavily from Lando’s data and real-time race commentary. Norris and Piastri are collaborating more than ever.
– MCL40 potential: High-potential car, but currently lacks grip compared to Ferrari and Mercedes in corners. Slightly underexploiting the power unit (improving session by session). Aero-efficiency upgrades arriving in the next couple of races.
“We are confident that McLaren will be in condition to compete for podiums and victories on merit within this season.”
– FP1 in Suzuka: Performance unfolded as expected (Ferrari still quicker in some sectors; Mercedes expected to step up on quali laps). Smoothest power-unit session yet — learning curve with HPP is paying off. Main remaining weakness is chassis aero in high-speed sections (Sector 1).
– Team culture after China: The frustration strengthened the team; they see it as proof of the investment in people and culture.
Haas – Ayao Komatsu
– Strong early season (P4 in Constructors’): Just one point behind McLaren after two races. Huge credit to team togetherness as the smallest outfit tackling brand-new regulations.
“The learning rate is really, really steep… everybody is working together, looking at the problems in front of you.”
– Strategy paying off: Focused on basics and reliability. Capitalizing on early-season teething problems from bigger teams. Hit every pre-season milestone (shakedown, Barcelona, Bahrain tests).
– Off-track limitations & future: Lacking some simulation tools of bigger teams but installing a simulator in Banbury. Car has a “really good base” and correct development direction — the challenge is keeping pace in the development race.
– Ollie Bearman praise: Clear step forward in consistency, feedback quality, and big-picture understanding. Exceptional attitude motivates the whole team.
“I can’t see the ceiling, so that’s the exciting part.”
Honda (Aston Martin Aramco) – Koji Watanabe
– Tough start to 2026: On-track performance struggles with the new power regulations.
Main reasons: challenging new regs + gap in F1 activity after stopping at end of 2021 (time needed to rebuild organization).
– Partnership with Aston Martin: Working as “one team” — Aston engineers embedded in Honda’s Sakura facility in Japan.
– Suzuka upgrades: Focused on vibration issues (especially battery-area damage) and improved energy management for better driving performance. Progress made since China.
“We are really closely together with Aston Martin Aramco to solve the problem, not only the power unit but also together with the chassis.”
– Longer-term outlook: Recovery plan exists with Aston Martin; details not disclosed yet.
Overall tone: All three representatives emphasized steep learning curves with the all-new 2026 regulations, close manufacturer-team collaboration, and cautious optimism despite early-season challenges. McLaren and Haas highlighted upcoming upgrades and strong team spirit; Honda stressed joint problem-solving with Aston Martin.
Full Transcript
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Koji WATANABE (Honda), Ayao KOMATSU (Haas), Andrea STELLA (McLaren)
Q: Andrea, if we could start with you. Bad memories first of all. Can we throw it back to China, which was a source of great frustration for the team? Do you fully understand the cause of the problems prior to the start?
Andrea STELLA: Yeah, so China was definitely a challenging and frustrating event for us. Two cars not being able to take part in a Grand Prix is pretty exceptional as a situation. We understand the source of the problem. In both cases it was related to the electrical side of the power unit. We had faults on the battery, but different faults, pretty much at the same time of the weekend, and in this sense it’s quite exceptional. We have worked together with HPP to investigate the problem. I think the problem is now understood. It’s not the same, like I say, on the two batteries, and on Oscar’s side we were in condition to reuse the same battery because we could apply some repairs, while on Lando’s side we needed to go on to a new battery pack.
Q: It’s still very early in these regulations. Are you worried of a repeat happening here?
AS: No. We trust 100 per cent that HPP have put in place remedials. I think we are exposed as a team, likewise all other teams may be exposed. There’s no team dependency in the kind of problem that we had on the electrical side of the power unit. HPP have very high standards. When they have information to process from a fault, for sure they will execute and put in place all the necessary learnings, adaptations and actions to avoid a repeat. So, we are definitely looking forward here to having, I would say, a regular weekend, like we haven’t had the chance in China and, to some extent, not even in Australia with Oscar spinning in the laps to the grid. We look forward as a team and, above all, we look forward for Oscar, who has not been able to have a lap in a race this season. We want to definitely break this trend and be there.
Q: You mentioned Oscar. Just how much is he on the back foot, having not done a racing lap so far this year?
AS: With entirely new regulations and also a different way of going racing, where you have now, as a driver, to manage the shortage of electrical energy, which at the same time is so crucial for propulsion, there’s a lot of learning in every single lap you do in a weekend, and obviously when it comes to racing and racing other cars, the race itself is the most important situation to learn. So, from this point of view Oscar is a little bit on the back foot, but at the same time there’s a lot that you can learn looking at the data of your team-mate. Even in the race in China, I was with Oscar and Lando, we were commenting, we were learning while looking, so there’s learning anywhere. Also, I have to say that Lando and Oscar are collaborating this season, if anything, more than ever before. They keep gelling in terms of team-mates, they keep sharing information, they keep trying to see what is the common learning. So, I think Oscar has taken some benefit from what has happened collectively as a team.
Q: Final one from me. Just how much potential does MCL40 have, do you think?
AS: I think the MCL40 is a very high-potential platform. At the moment, our car, when we compare it to Ferrari and Mercedes, suffers a bit of a deficit in grip. So, Ferrari and Mercedes are faster than us in the corners. I think compared to Mercedes GP we see that we are probably underexploiting the power unit a little bit. It was better in China compared to Australia. We are on a steep learning curve when it comes to getting the most out of the power unit, which is positive, and we are working very well with HPP to make sure that we get on top of all the potential, extracting all the potential that is available in the power unit. But coming back on the chassis side, we understand exactly what to do in terms of putting in place the actions to improve the chassis furthermore. In fact, it’s just about bringing upgrades that will increase the aerodynamic efficiency. These will happen in the next couple of events, so I think from there we should see a positive trajectory and we are confident that McLaren will be in condition to compete for podiums and victories on merit within this season.
Q: Great, Andrea. Thank you for that. Now Ayao, if we could come to you. It’s been a fantastic start to the season for Haas. You’re P4 in the Constructors’ Championship, just one point behind McLaren. But can we just talk about the two races so far as a whole? What aspects of the performance have pleased you the most?
Ayao KOMATSU: I think it’s overall togetherness of the team. I think, as everybody here knows, preparing for this brand-new regulation has been a huge challenge, and for us, being the smallest team, that challenge was, I’d say, even bigger. But we managed to hit every single milestone in terms of hitting the shakedown, Barcelona, Bahrain 1, 2, and then throughout, like Andrea said, every lap we send a car out we are learning something. So, the learning rate is really, really steep. We may lack some of the off-track tools that some of the bigger teams may have. Sio the things we have to learn at the track are huge and we have to be doing it really, really quickly. But everybody is working together, looking at the problems in front of you, making improvement every session, every run. So that’s what translated into the result. We always said we really need to focus on the basics first. Let’s say first five races, there will be reliability issues, which is normal for this brand-new regulation, so we know what’s going to happen in front of us. We’ve just got to be there to pick up those places available, and I feel like we’ve done most of that. Not quite, because we couldn’t get both cars into points, but overall, I’m really, really pleased how this team is putting it together.
Q: You say you’re lacking some of the off-track tools. Just how long do you think you can maintain this level?
AK: That’s a very good question. We know what we are lacking, we know what we can do, so we’re doing obviously a parallel work. One, obviously making best of what we’ve got, but at the same time we are in the process of installing a simulator in Banbury as well and a few other tools. So, I think the development race is going to be very tough, but at least to start off with our car has a decent characteristic, it’s a really good base, so we know the direction is correct. It’s just a matter of can we find enough performance to keep up with the others.
Q: Talking of performance, Ollie Bearman is driving extremely well, scoring points at every opportunity. Do you think he’s taken a step over the winter?
AK: He takes steps every single time. You saw how much he improved throughout last year, right? As we said, his speed’s never been in doubt. Then you saw the consistency improvement towards the end of last year. Mexico, P4, was amazing under huge pressure. Then pre-season testing throughout, working with the engineers, mechanics, feedback, all the quality has improved. If you look at the first two races, he hardly made any mistakes. It’s just the way he can absorb the information, understand the bigger picture, he’s able to articulate it, digest, apply, all these qualities you need to be a top driver, he’s got it. The thing is that his attitude is very, very positive, so he brings the best out of people around him as well, engineers, mechanics, everyone. That’s a very important quality. Even when there’s some less than ideal situation happens, the way he deals with it, he actually doesn’t depress people, he actually motivates people to be able to solve the problem quicker. So that’s a natural attribute he’s got. We already enjoy working with him and, at the moment, I can’t see the ceiling, so that’s the exciting part.
Q: Thank you very much for that. Watanabe-san, thank you for waiting. It’s been a tough start to the season for Honda. Please can you start by just outlining the main issues with your power unit?
Koji WATANABE: Well, we are starting a new season with Aston Martin Aramco and, as you know, we are struggling in on-track performance at this moment. I believe that there are several reasons. The first one is that, yes, of course, the new power regulation is quite challenging for us. The second one is that we stopped the Formula 1 activities at the end of 2021 and announced to return to Formula 1 in 2023, so there is some period that during that period our Formula 1 activity was quite limited. It also took a bit of time for us to rebuild the organization to restart Formula 1 development. But now we are working closely with Aston Martin Aramco, not only technical area but also overall area, how we can build a strong partnership together with them. So, Aston Martin Aramco and Honda is not only just F1 constructor and power manufacturer, but also, we are working closely as one team. Actually, in our facility in Japan, the engineers from Aston Martin Aramco are really working hard closely with our engineers in Sakura, working together. So, I think most important is that we can keep moving forward step by step.
Q: Looking specifically at performance, have you been able to make progress since China?
KW: Yes. At this moment we are focused on how we can improve the situation of vibration, mainly damage to battery area, but also this time for Suzuka we have improved energy management situation for more driving performance.
Q: Looking at the rest of the season, how will you quantify success between now and Abu Dhabi?
KW: Well, we have some recovery plan together with Aston Martin, but we cannot tell that today.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mervi Kallio – Viaplay) Andrea, today Practice 1 is behind us and, as we can see, you have been closing the gap a little bit. Is that a result of better understanding of the power unit in general, or is it something else? And also another question: how long will it take that you will get the full potential from the power unit and equal Mercedes with it?
AS: Yes, so the Free Practice 1 session here in Suzuka, actually I think it was in line with expectations. I think if we look at the best sectors, Ferrari still appears to be a little faster than McLaren, and I think Mercedes, once it’s the time to put the fast lap times together, they will have a step on everyone. So, I think here in Suzuka things have unfolded from a performance point of view like expected. I have to say that this has been the smoothest Free Practice 1 in terms of power unit exploitation, which is the result of improving our learning session by session working with HPP. So I think now the gap is pretty small compared to what is available in the power unit, and it will get smaller and smaller race after race. For us, the main thing that we need to focus on, I have to say, in addition to the power unit, and mainly, is actually gaining more out of the chassis. We still see here in Suzuka, for instance in Sector 1, in the high-speed section, we lose too much time to Ferrari and Mercedes. So, it’s very clear the areas that we want to improve, and like I said before, we should have already some upgrades coming in the next couple of races.
Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports F1) Just to pick up on that with you, Andrea, and then I have a question for Mr Watanabe, if that’s all right. Andrea, you’re saying that you’re learning a bit more here. Is it a case that Mercedes HPP give you information freely, or do you have to ask a question and then they answer it? Do they give you more information off their own backs? How does that work? And Mr Watanabe, if I can ask, many people will have seen Max Verstappen winning four Drivers’ World Championships in a row with a Honda engine. Can you explain to them how you can go from such successful power units there to ones that have these vibration issues?
AS: In terms of power unit exploitation, I would say that the main limitation as a customer team has been the timeline. It’s been a pushed program, like it’s been pushed from all teams, for all competitors. For us, certainly, it’s been a program, the delivery of the MCL40 that was pushed up to the last minute. The same has happened for the power unit manufacturers. So, it’s relatively normal that in this condition, as a customer, you tend to be a little bit on the back foot, and we are learning together with our HPP engineers how to use the power unit. They are learning together with us. It’s not like information is held back. There’s maximum sharing. We work very well with HPP and with our engineers. We’ve been world champions together three times in the last two years, so the relationship is great. It’s more about catching up with the timeline. So, we remain pretty optimistic that, like I said before, we are now not far from maximum exploitation from a power unit point of view.
KW: Yes, of course. We have enough experience until 2025. As I told you, the most difficult point is that we started the development a bit later compared to the others. Also, in the test on the dyno the vibration is acceptable level, but once we integrate in the actual chassis, that vibration is getting much more than the test on the dyno. So, of course only PU cannot solve the problem, only the PU, so we are really closely together with Aston Martin Aramco to solve the problem, not only the power unit but also together with the chassis.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) A question for Andrea. You talked after China about learning from adversity and the way you guys bounced back after Qatar and Vegas last year. Did you see that process underway in Woking in the last 10 days? Did you come here as a stronger team after what happened in China?
AS: Absolutely. The way the team has reacted to the frustration of not seeing a McLaren taking part with both cars in the Grand Prix has been, once again, a way of witnessing the strength of the culture that we have in the team. This is the result of an investment on our people, on our culture, that has been going on for three years. We said last year that the championship was won when we resisted the adversity, Qatar that you have mentioned as well, Qatar, Vegas, and in a way we kind of have the same belief this year. If anything, McLaren, at least since when I’m team principal right now, is in its strongest version as a team. We have never had this level of capabilities and infrastructure, we have never had before, even when we were winning championships, this level of expertise and talent in the team. I’ve never seen, like I said before, Lando and Oscar working so well together, and I can see that the pattern that led us in the last three years to just instigate such an upward trajectory, I can see that this pattern is forming up. So I think there’s all the reasons to be very encouraged looking at the future and, like I said before, hopefully we will start to see some improvements already in the next events.
Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) It’s a question for Watanabe-san. Once the attention turns from reliability to performance, do you believe that this engine you have now can be upgraded to the level required this season, or do you need to prioritise development on a new design for 2027?
KW: Well, it’s quite difficult to say, but at least we need to improve not only the reliability but also performance. Under current regulation it’s difficult to improve the performance itself, so currently we are focused on how to improve the reliability and also, within the rule, we have to improve the performance. Yes, that’s it.
Q: (David Schneider – Shiga Sports) Question for Watanabe-san. In Australia, Adrian Newey made a couple of statements that were a little bit surprising for us and have been confirmed as a misunderstanding because Honda has been very open from the very beginning of this partnership. Since now Adrian Newey has returned to his original role as Managing Technical Partner, do you expect a closer relationship between him and Honda to fix the core issues?
KW: I’m sorry, I don’t know the organization changed. Still Adrian is the representative of the team, I think. The relationship between Aston Martin Aramco and Honda is quite good. So, between the actual development team, like in the case of Honda, [Tetsushi} Kakuda is the project leader of the power unit, and also Enrico-san on the Aston Martin side, they closely work together. Also myself and Mr Stroll, myself and Adrian Newey, is quite a good relation, so I have no worry about that.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Andrea, one for you. We’ve got this five-week gap coming up after the cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. How useful is that time going to be for McLaren to try and take some steps forward in understanding the car? Obviously, you’d like that track time as well, but what will the benefits of that gap be, but also from a sort of human point of view as well? It was such a brutal winter and very short for everyone, so will it do people good to not travel for a little while?
AS: Yes, first of all let me say we have some time off for the wrong reasons. But having said that, effectively, because of having been such a program, such an intense program, quite pushed from a timeline point of view, actually this pause is welcomed. I think for McLaren as a team it gives us the possibility to make the parts that we want to take trackside to evolve our car, make it faster, especially when it comes to aerodynamic performance. I think it gives us some more time to work with HPP, for instance, finalising all the tools that are required to exploit the power unit as we discussed before. Importantly, it also gives the staff the time to take a little bit of a breath because it’s been one of the most intense winters that I can remember in my career in Formula 1. Definitely once we started to go trackside, and winter testing itself has been very intense, very busy. So I think it’s good that in what is going to be another long season, we have the time to take a breath and we have the time to catch up from an operational and technical point of view so that we can be, as a team, specifically talking about McLaren, in condition to fight for more important positions once we race back, starting from Miami.
Q: (Tim Hartman – AD) Question for Mr Komatsu and Watanabe. Japan has a great history in Formula One. Do you have any concerns about the popularity of the sport in this country with no Japanese driver on the grid? And where do you think the sport stands at this moment?
AK: Yes, obviously this country has a rich history of motor sport. I met Formula 1 when I was 14 and, yes, it is a shame that at the moment we don’t have Japanese drivers. But we have a strong partnership with Toyota, and one of the main purposes of this partnership is to develop human beings, including drivers. So, we started that program and we are creating opportunities, not just for drivers, engineers, mechanics, all the functionalities that are required in the Formula 1 team. It’s such a competitive international environment, so it’s a great opportunity to grow human beings in every area. Then I really hope that from there we can have a future Formula 1 driver. But again, you can see the atmosphere here, it’s improving every year, so I’m sure as long as we’re putting on good racing, good show, and they have good engagement, which I believe we are doing, I think this sport grows. I would like to really build up, improve this culture in this country to have a future superstar.
KW: Yes, there are several other good Japanese drivers now, and they have a chance to step up to Formula 1. Also Honda’s one of the important activities is we have a racing school here, Honda Racing School Suzuka, and we are educating a lot of young talent to F3, F2, so we are continuing to strongly proceed to develop young talent toward Formula 1.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) It’s another one for Watanabe-san. One of the comments that Adrian Newey made in Melbourne is that he only found out about the state of Honda’s new F1 project in November last year. Could you please clarify the background to that, if that’s some kind of misunderstanding? And also, do you think in hindsight steps could have been done differently in the build-up?
KW: Yes, basically I think that it’s a misunderstanding. Basically, our policy is to rotate the engineers of the motorsport regularly to mass production or more advanced technologies like jet or eVTOL or hydrology or something like that. So that is, we continue to rotate from the beginning. Probably my explanation is not enough. Also, of course, as I said, to rebuild the organization took a bit of time, so that was his worry, I think. But now we have sufficient organisation and talent.
Q: (Ben Waterworth – Speedcafe) Question for Andrea. Oscar spoke yesterday about the importance of your positive attitude in keeping the team motivated throughout the first couple of rounds. Just wondering if you could touch a bit on Oscar’s, I guess, how he’s been after the difficulties, and also is there a reason you think Oscar and Lando are getting a bit closer this year and kind of working together more strongly than ever?
AS: Yes, I think this start of the season has given Oscar the opportunity to test where he was with his maturity, with his strength, with his ability to absorb adversity. I have to say that the team is so impressed by the strength that this driver is exhibiting, and I have to say passing on to the team, because when you see a driver responding like that to a second race in which he was not in condition to be part of it, then this becomes extremely motivational for all the team. So really credit to Oscar, credit to his own personal development, which is not only the development of a driver getting faster and faster, but also of a person getting more and more mature and strong from a mental point of view. When it comes to the relationship between Oscar and Lando, I’ve actually been thinking about it because I see how well they collaborate. These guys have gone through a quest for a world championship, the Drivers’ World Championship, the dream of their life, and competing with one another, and now they keep exhibiting this level of mutual respect. I think this is perhaps something that we have helped them as a team to reflect and embed, but at the same time, and this is true for Lando as well, what I said before for Oscar, this is who they are. This is also why they drive a McLaren, because it just wouldn’t work, the relationship between a driver and a team, if we didn’t share the same values, the same mindset, the same approach to racing. So, I’m personally very proud of Lando and Oscar for how they are collaborating at the moment and, just like I said before, if we had not had the 2025, I would say, “let me see once they become rivals for the championship,” but we have had it already, so at the moment I’m just proud and happy with what they are doing for McLaren and for themselves.