本田為什么選擇現(xiàn)在回歸？ Why did Honda choose to return now? 要理解這一點(diǎn)，我們必須把時(shí)間倒回2020年的夏天，彼時(shí)本田正嚴(yán)肅得評估自己在圍場中到底位置幾何，這距離他們宣布退出尚有數(shù)月之遙。 To understand why Honda are back, we must go back to the summer of 2020, when Honda began evaluating their place in F1 before announcing their exit a few months later. 雖然同紅牛的合作正處正軌，可成績出得卻還不夠快不夠優(yōu)秀——于是日本人壯士斷腕，宣布年底退出。 While success was coming at that point, it wasn’t coming fast enough – and so they decided to call it quits at the end of the year. 出人意料的是，在2021賽季，紅牛和維斯塔潘從梅奔和漢密爾頓手中搶走了車手總冠軍。在這場頗具爭議的刺激爭奪中，本田奪得了他們自2015年回歸以來，暌違已久的冠軍頭銜。 However, Red Bull and Max Verstappen went on to pip Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton to the drivers’ title in 2021, in arguably the most exciting championship battle ever, giving Honda the World Championship they’d craved since returning to F1 in 2015. 只不過，做出的決定覆水難收，他們退而求其次，以紅牛的動(dòng)力單元技術(shù)伙伴留了下來，有償將自己的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)分享給車隊(duì)。只不過，紅牛將這一切整合為自己新成立的“紅牛動(dòng)力部門”，本田因此得不到該有的曝光。 By then, the decision had been made though. It was too late to turn back – so they compromised by staying on as a technical partner, supplying their power unit – and intellectual property – to Red Bull for a fee but not actually gaining the public credit for it, as Red Bull ran the unit under the newly-formed Red Bull Powertrains division. 隨著2022賽季的開啟，大家都看到了紅牛獨(dú)一檔的實(shí)力，這里面自然也有本田引擎的大功一件。他們聯(lián)手拿下了22場中的17場冠軍。 As the 2022 campaign began, it quickly became clear the Red Bull was the class of the field. It was also evident that Honda’s power unit was top of the pile, too. Together, they won 17 of the 22 Grands Prix. 這時(shí)，回歸對本田來說就不是什么艱難決定了。世界經(jīng)濟(jì)正從新冠中復(fù)蘇，本田在F1里表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異，而且回歸也可大大提升品牌曝光度。最重要的是，2026年的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)新規(guī)正中本田下懷。 It was an easier sell for the Honda board at this point. The world was recovering from Covid-19, Honda were doing well in F1 and that was good for the brand and, perhaps most importantly, F1’s 2026 engine regulations were right up their street. 新規(guī)里，車隊(duì)必須使用100%可持續(xù)燃料，電機(jī)動(dòng)力輸出將是現(xiàn)在的三倍。而且，所有動(dòng)力總成廠商也將受到預(yù)算帽制約，以此控制開銷。 Among the changes, teams will be required to use 100% sustainable fuels and the deployment of electrical power will be tripled what is required now. Plus, the cost cap structure will be applied to power unit manufacturers, too, to control spending. “我們相信，由此帶來的技術(shù)發(fā)展和科技成果，將可以被直接應(yīng)用到我們的量產(chǎn)電動(dòng)車上?！北咎镔愜嚥緾EO渡邊說道。 “We believe that the technology and know-how gained from this new challenge has the potential to be applied directly to our future mass production electric vehicles.”says Honda Racing Corporation CEO Koji Watanabe. 一切都完美契合本田的公司戰(zhàn)略2030年實(shí)現(xiàn)碳中和，有高效的預(yù)算把控，同時(shí)讓自己的量產(chǎn)車部和運(yùn)動(dòng)部同步發(fā)展，共享成果。 This sits perfectly with Honda’s company goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 and ensuring there are budget efficiencies and synergies between the automotive and motorsport arms of the business. 于是乎，做為擁有悠久運(yùn)動(dòng)史，DNA中鐫刻著頂級(jí)賽車基因的本田，選擇了回歸F1。 And so Honda – who have long felt that competing in the top categories of motorsport is part of the company’s DNA – piled back in.

為什么選擇馬?。?Why did Honda choose Aston Martin? 本田的首選一直是紅牛，這只同甘共苦，又一起苦盡甘來的車隊(duì)。 Honda’s preference was to ramp their involvement back up with Red Bull, who they have enjoyed – and continue to enjoy – success with on-track in Formula 1. 但這次，紅牛選擇了拒絕。奧地利水廠在創(chuàng)建自己的動(dòng)力部門上已經(jīng)花費(fèi)巨資。他們在彌爾頓凱恩斯的工廠吸收了大量梅奔，和關(guān)閉后的原本田工廠的員工。隨后，紅牛又同車企巨頭福特達(dá)成一致，讓后者以技術(shù)伙伴的身份在2026回歸F1。紅牛已經(jīng)向前看了。 However, Red Bull said no, as they had already committed huge resource to building their own power unit division on their campus in Milton Keynes. They had recruited heavily, including signing several staff from Mercedes and bringing a large number of Honda staff over from the manufacturer’s UK base, which shut down when Honda pulled out. Red Bull then did a deal to bring automotive giant Ford back to F1 as a technical partner from 2026. Red Bull had moved on. 本田沒有自亂陣腳，他們選擇也不少。老伙計(jì)麥克拉倫和威廉姆斯都是潛在的對象，甚至有消息表明，日本人還接觸過意圖進(jìn)軍F1的新車隊(duì)。 Honda didn’t panic, though. They had options. They held talks with their former team McLaren. Williams were an option, too. And sources say they held meetings with teams wanting to join F1 in the future. 但卻是阿斯頓馬丁笑到了最后，這還一切只是最近幾個(gè)月才剛有苗頭。本田被認(rèn)為會(huì)從這次的合作中獲得巨大的品牌宣傳效益，馬丁給的商業(yè)合同，也比麥克拉倫和紅牛的要豐厚不少。 ?But it was Aston Martin who quickly became the frontrunner, as recently as just a few months ago. It is understood that Honda will get strong branding from the deal – while the financial terms are believed to better for them than the arrangement they had with McLaren and Red Bull.

馬丁為什么瞄上本田？ Why did Aston Martin target Honda? 想要奪冠，你必須有廠商級(jí)的后援——且必須處處把你置于首位，這在F1里是公認(rèn)的事實(shí)。正因如此，馬丁必須終止同直接對手梅賽德斯的合作關(guān)系。 It is a widely held belief in F1 that to win championships, you need a works partner – who is focused primarily on you. So ending that deal with Mercedes – whom they are beating on track right now – was a must. “在F1里，如果你想贏，就必須跨過梅賽德斯這樣的車隊(duì)?？梢悄氵€需依賴他們的技術(shù)支持，設(shè)施和部件，那想打敗這樣一支這樣優(yōu)秀的團(tuán)隊(duì)幾乎是不可能的?！卑⑺诡D馬丁CEO馬丁·惠特馬什說。 ?“The nature of F1 is, if you want to win, it means beating Mercedes and it’s extremely difficult to beat an organisation as good as Mercedes if you’re reliant on them for intellectual property, facilities and components.” says Martin Whitmarsh, Group CEO of Aston Martin Performance Technologies. “我們加入F1是為了勝利，為了這一目標(biāo)，軟硬件的完全無保留融合是必不可少的。在我看來，如果沒有100%的廠商支持，想不斷得贏得冠軍是集齊困難的。這就是為什么，我們很高興找到像本田這樣優(yōu)秀的伙伴，這樣的決定水到渠成?！?“We are here to win. Therefore, you have got to have the complete integration of facilities and approach. In my view, it’s very difficult to win consistently championships without a full works relationship, which is why we have made this decision and why we are delighted to have a fantastic partner like Honda.”

本田還會(huì)是領(lǐng)頭羊么？ Will Honda still be the ones to beat? 好消息是，對于26年的引擎新規(guī)，本田一直保持著極高的參與度，同對手廠商的會(huì)議也好，自己不斷的研發(fā)也好，都沒停過。 In their favour, Honda have been continuously involved in the 2026 power unit meetings with rival manufacturers – and have continued working on development of that unit, albeit with a small team. 和紅牛的合作也在繼續(xù)，一直到2025年底，他們都將持續(xù)向紅牛兩隊(duì)提供動(dòng)力單元支持。 They have also remained involved through their partnership with Red Bull, which involves supplying and running engines for the works team and AlphaTauri until the end of 2025. 壞消息是，本田在英國沒有基地，員工數(shù)量也捉襟見肘。當(dāng)時(shí)關(guān)閉F1項(xiàng)目時(shí)，員工不是加入紅牛動(dòng)力部門，就是轉(zhuǎn)崗到公司其他地方。 ?However, they have no UK base and very few staff. On closing the F1 project, staff either left to join Red Bull’s engine division or they were redistributed internally to other departments. 本田該開始把這些人員，至少一部分，召回來了，同時(shí)在公司內(nèi)部挖潛，為新的F1項(xiàng)目廣撒英雄帖。 Honda will now have to begin the process of bringing some of those people back, reassigning others from various internal departments to the F1 project, and recruiting heavily. 不過呢，本田應(yīng)該對自己充滿信心，他們可是成功造出了現(xiàn)如今賽道上最棒的一臺(tái)引擎。另一方面，F(xiàn)1致力于推動(dòng)的新規(guī)方向，又和汽車工業(yè)之大勢所趨完全吻合。本田原本就打算向自己的這一優(yōu)勢領(lǐng)域調(diào)配資源。 However, they can take plenty of confidence from the fact they have successfully built the best engine on the grid – and the areas in which F1 is pushing with the new regulations are areas the automotive company wants to push resources into and where they have strong expertise. 本田和阿斯頓馬丁之間有過前緣么？ Do Honda and Aston Martin have history? 很可惜沒有，不過這支銀石車隊(duì)故事可就多了?，F(xiàn)在的馬丁，前身最早可以追溯到當(dāng)年的喬丹車隊(duì)，他們在1998/1999賽季同無限-本田的合作，也是隊(duì)史最輝煌的時(shí)期。99年的喬丹甚至一度在弗倫岑的帶領(lǐng)下挑戰(zhàn)過世界冠軍頭銜。 No, they don’t – but Team Silverstone and Honda do. The roots of the team trace back to the Jordan squad, who enjoyed their greatest success when they ran Mugen-Hondas in 1998 and 1999. In that latter season, they even challenged for the title through Heinz-Harald Frentzen. 本田同惠特馬什之間也有些些許關(guān)聯(lián)。當(dāng)初就是他力主日本廠商，回歸F1，并同自己前東家麥克拉倫合作。結(jié)果他倒是在這段孽緣結(jié)束前就走人了。 Honda have history with Whitmarsh, too, as he played a key role in convincing them to return to F1 with his former team McLaren – though it should be said that he left before the McLaren-Honda relationship turned sour. 阿隆索和本田之間的冰冷關(guān)系也是人盡皆知，西班牙人在日本站公然通過TR打罵本田“GP2引擎”，這已經(jīng)是車壇名場面了。 Fernando Alonso had a frostier relationship with the Japanese company, the Spaniard famously calling their power unit a “GP2 engine” on team radio while driving on Honda’s home soil in Japan. 如果阿隆索2026年能夠駕駛本田驅(qū)動(dòng)的馬丁的話，他都是45的老將了。在被問及是否對此持反對態(tài)度時(shí)，?渡邊提到：“車手選擇是車隊(duì)的事。只要車隊(duì)方面認(rèn)為阿隆索可以繼續(xù)征戰(zhàn)，我們對此毫無異議?！?Watanabe was asked if Honda had any objection to Aston Martin running Alonso in 2026 – a possibility which is unclear as he’ll be 44, closing on 45 – to which he replied: “The selection of drivers is up to the team to decide. So, if the team decides we’ll have Alonso as a driver again, we will have no objections whatsoever in him driving.”

本田會(huì)給日本車手提供機(jī)會(huì)么？ Will Honda want a Japanese driver in the car? 正如渡邊所說，本田參與車隊(duì)2026年的車手陣容組建，但他們的確在繼續(xù)推動(dòng)自己的“本田方程式夢計(jì)劃”。 As Watanabe said, Honda will have no say on the driver line-up for 2026, but they are planning on continuing the ‘Honda Formula Dream Project’. 現(xiàn)在效力于小紅牛的角田裕毅仍舊是“夢計(jì)劃”的一員，本田也在持續(xù)為他提供資金支持。 Yuki Tsunoda, currently at AlphaTauri, remains part of that project and therefore receives funding from the Japanese manufacturer. 目前F2積分榜第三的巖佐步夢，是另一位被本田高度看好的車手。 ?Ayumu Iwasa, who is third in the F2 championship, is also a member – and is highly-rated by Honda. 圍場內(nèi)認(rèn)為，以上二者至少有一人，會(huì)在接下去的F1賽季中得到本田支持。最理想的情況還是在紅牛體系內(nèi)，而不是其他車隊(duì)，畢竟他們同本田的合作還有好幾年。 It is believed at least one of them will be backed in F1 in the coming years, ideally within the Red Bull family as that partnership has a few years to run, other than elsewhere. 不過，若角田和巖佐證明他們有能力扛起一支車隊(duì)的大旗（馬?。l能說他們得不到那個(gè)綠色席位呢？ But if Tsunoda or Iwasa prove they have what it takes to earn a seat on merit at Aston Martin, who is to say they won’t get that chance in the future? *原標(biāo)題： How and why Honda and Aston Martin got together for 2026 *原文地址： https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-how-and-why-honda-and-aston-martin-got-together-for-2026.1Kn51QSM6tyvSjrCocprWa.html *譯文版權(quán)up所有，原文及圖片摘自F1官網(wǎng)，有刪減