Stroll denies Aston sale as Honda pressure mounts

Feb.25 (GMM) Lawrence Stroll has dismissed rumours he is preparing to sell his Formula 1 team, insisting he is “not going anywhere” despite Aston Martin’s troubled start to 2026.

The Canadian billionaire has now secured full and permanent rights to the Aston Martin name for use in Formula 1, tightening the link between the road car company and the racing operation.

Speculation about a possible sale re-kindled after a difficult opening to the new Honda-powered era, even though the team boasts Adrian Newey, Fernando Alonso, state-of-the-art facilities and major investment.

“You can’t spend hundreds of millions of pounds, build the best new Formula 1 campus and hire 400 of the best employees if you’re about to leave the business,” Stroll told the New York Times.

“Sell? That news couldn’t be further from the truth. I have no interest in ceasing to be the majority shareholder of this team for a long time – and the same goes for the car company.

“I’m not going anywhere. I plan to run these businesses for many years to come. I’m at the beginning of the road in both cases.”

On track, however, questions are already emerging – particularly around the new Honda power unit.

When asked if he still had confidence in the project, Fernando Alonso drew a clear distinction between chassis and engine.

“Yes – especially on the chassis side,” Alonso said. “The power unit is a little bit more difficult because we don’t have a good understanding yet of the regulations and what is needed.”

The Spaniard was quick to defend design chief Adrian Newey.

“After 30-plus years of Adrian dominating the sport, it’s not that he will forget everything in one year,” Alonso said.

“Even if we are not at 100 now, we will be at 100 soon because we will fix any problem on the power unit.”

Former driver Ralf Schumacher, however, warned that Honda’s relationship with Alonso could again become delicate – recalling the infamous “GP2 engine” criticism during their time together at McLaren.

“I don’t think they’ve forgotten that experience, because things like that leave a mark,” Schumacher said on Sky Deutschland.

“The way Fernando handled it back then was very open – harsh criticism. He was younger, perhaps more impulsive, but people in Japan don’t forget something like that.”

Schumacher also expressed surprise at Honda’s struggles after its recent success with Red Bull.

“Who would have thought Honda would run into such difficulties?” he said. “They specifically wanted a higher proportion of electric power, and that’s exactly where they’re now having the biggest problems.”

He urged Honda to react strategically to the latest crisis.

“Honda now needs to take the initiative and say ‘This is a huge disaster, we made a mistake. It will take this long, the team needs this much patience’.”

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