Aston Martin clawed back three seconds in two weekends, and Fernando Alonso finally scored points again with ninth at Zandvoort. Honda's spec-2 power unit delivered its internal target — somewhere between 10 and 30 horsepower — with no reliability hiccups. But the celebration stops there.
Driveability remains a mess. The problem isn't just throttle response; it's the transition when the driver lifts. The MGU-K harvests 350 kilowatts under braking, doubling the engine's operating point, and when the battery hits its charge limit mid-corner, that harvesting force vanishes instantly. The engine snaps back to pure engine braking without smoothness. Honda admits its combustion is "not stable" in both directions, a problem made worse by 2026's battery-heavy regs and the loss of the MGU-H.
Until Honda untangles the coordination between combustion, MGU-K, and brake-by-wire, neither team nor manufacturer will know what this engine can do. Adrian Newey, both drivers, and Honda's own engineers named the same priority: fix driveability first.
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