[双语长文-F1][本田：我为何现在回来]
本田为什么选择现在回归？ Why did Honda choose to return now? 要理解这一点，我们必须把时间倒回2020年的夏天，彼时本田正严肃得评估自己在围场中到底位置几何，这距离他们宣布退出尚有数月之遥。 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. 虽然同红牛的合作正处正轨，可成绩出得却还不够快不够优秀——于是日本人壮士断腕，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赛季，红牛和维斯塔潘从梅奔和汉密尔顿手中抢走了车手总冠军。在这场颇具争议的刺激争夺中，本田夺得了他们自2015年回归以来，暌违已久的冠军头衔。 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. 只不过，做出的决定覆水难收，他们退而求其次，以红牛的动力单元技术伙伴留了下来，有偿将自己的知识产权分享给车队。只不过，红牛将这一切整合为自己新成立的“红牛动力部门”，本田因此得不到该有的曝光。 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. 随着2022赛季的开启，大家都看到了红牛独一档的实力，这里面自然也有本田引擎的大功一件。他们联手拿下了22场中的17场冠军。 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. 这时，回归对本田来说就不是什么艰难决定了。世界经济正从新冠中复苏，本田在F1里表现优异，而且回归也可大大提升品牌曝光度。最重要的是，2026年的发动机新规正中本田下怀。 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. 新规里，车队必须使用100%可持续燃料，电机动力输出将是现在的三倍。而且，所有动力总成厂商也将受到预算帽制约，以此控制开销。 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. “我们相信，由此带来的技术发展和科技成果，将可以被直接应用到我们的量产电动车上。”本田赛车部CEO渡边说道。 “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战略2030年实现碳中和，有高效的预算把控，同时让自己的量产车部和运动部同步发展，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，做为拥有悠久运动史，DNA中镌刻着顶级赛车基因的本田，选择了回归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.
为什么选择马丁？ Why did Honda choose Aston Martin? 本田的首选一直是红牛，这只同甘共苦，又一起苦尽甘来的车队。 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. 但这次，红牛选择了拒绝。奥地利水厂在创建自己的动力部门上已经花费巨资。他们在弥尔顿凯恩斯的工厂吸收了大量梅奔，和关闭后的原本田工厂的员工。随后，红牛又同车企巨头福特达成一致，让后者以技术伙伴的身份在2026回归F1。红牛已经向前看了。 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. 本田没有自乱阵脚，他们选择也不少。老伙计麦克拉伦和威廉姆斯都是潜在的对象，甚至有消息表明，日本人还接触过意图进军F1的新车队。 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. 但却是阿斯顿马丁笑到了最后，这还一切只是最近几个月才刚有苗头。本田被认为会从这次的合作中获得巨大的品牌宣传效益，马丁给的商业合同，也比麦克拉伦和红牛的要丰厚不少。 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.
马丁为什么瞄上本田？ Why did Aston Martin target Honda? 想要夺冠，你必须有厂商级的后援——且必须处处把你置于首位，这在F1里是公认的事实。正因如此，马丁必须终止同直接对手梅赛德斯的合作关系。 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，如果你想赢，就必须跨过梅赛德斯这样的车队。可要是你还需依赖他们的技术支持，设施和部件，那想打败这样一支这样优秀的团队几乎是不可能的。”阿斯顿马丁CEO马丁·惠特马什说。 “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. “我们加入F1是为了胜利，为了这一目标，软硬件的完全无保留融合是必不可少的。在我看来，如果没有100%的厂商支持，想不断得赢得冠军是集齐困难的。这就是为什么，我们很高兴找到像本田这样优秀的伙伴，这样的决定水到渠成。” “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.”
本田还会是领头羊么？ Will Honda still be the ones to beat? 好消息是，对于26年的引擎新规，本田一直保持着极高的参与度，同对手厂商的会议也好，自己不断的研发也好，都没停过。 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. 和红牛的合作也在继续，一直到2025年底，他们都将持续向红牛两队提供动力单元支持。 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. 坏消息是，本田在英国没有基地，员工数量也捉襟见肘。当时关闭F1项目时，员工不是加入红牛动力部门，就是转岗到公司其他地方。 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. 本田该开始把这些人员，至少一部分，召回来了，同时在公司内部挖潜，为新的F1项目广撒英雄帖。 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. 不过呢，本田应该对自己充满信心，他们可是成功造出了现如今赛道上最棒的一台引擎。另一方面，F1致力于推动的新规方向，又和汽车工业之大势所趋完全吻合。本田原本就打算向自己的这一优势领域调配资源。 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. 本田和阿斯顿马丁之间有过前缘么？ Do Honda and Aston Martin have history? 很可惜没有，不过这支银石车队故事可就多了。现在的马丁，前身最早可以追溯到当年的乔丹车队，他们在1998/1999赛季同无限-本田的合作，也是队史最辉煌的时期。99年的乔丹甚至一度在弗伦岑的带领下挑战过世界冠军头衔。 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. 本田同惠特马什之间也有些些许关联。当初就是他力主日本厂商，回归F1，并同自己前东家麦克拉伦合作。结果他倒是在这段孽缘结束前就走人了。 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. 阿隆索和本田之间的冰冷关系也是人尽皆知，西班牙人在日本站公然通过TR打骂本田“GP2引擎”，这已经是车坛名场面了。 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年能够驾驶本田驱动的马丁的话，他都是45的老将了。在被问及是否对此持反对态度时，渡边提到：“车手选择是车队的事。只要车队方面认为阿隆索可以继续征战，我们对此毫无异议。” 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.”
本田会给日本车手提供机会么？ Will Honda want a Japanese driver in the car? 正如渡边所说，本田参与车队2026年的车手阵容组建，但他们的确在继续推动自己的“本田方程式梦计划”。 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’. 现在效力于小红牛的角田裕毅仍旧是“梦计划”的一员，本田也在持续为他提供资金支持。 Yuki Tsunoda, currently at AlphaTauri, remains part of that project and therefore receives funding from the Japanese manufacturer. 目前F2积分榜第三的岩佐步梦，是另一位被本田高度看好的车手。 Ayumu Iwasa, who is third in the F2 championship, is also a member – and is highly-rated by Honda. 围场内认为，以上二者至少有一人，会在接下去的F1赛季中得到本田支持。最理想的情况还是在红牛体系内，而不是其他车队，毕竟他们同本田的合作还有好几年。 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. 不过，若角田和岩佐证明他们有能力扛起一支车队的大旗（马丁），谁能说他们得不到那个绿色席位呢？ 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? *原标题： 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 *译文版权up所有，原文及图片摘自F1官网，有删减
