For Honda's Koji Watanabe, these are exciting times as the Japanese manufacturer begins a new chapter in its history, with Aston Martin.

For the most part it's been good, very good, though ahead of a season in which he re-partners with Honda, Fernando Alonso must have the odd nightmare, the occasional flashback.

Pre-season testing only gave a taste of what was to follow when Honda returned to the sport with McLaren in 2015 for the hybrid era. As the retirements and grid penalties mounted, the Spaniard and his teammate, Jenson Button, took it on the chin and played it for laughs.

Of course, the situation wasn't helped by the fact that not only did Honda come to the party a year later than its rivals, the ludicrous development token system in place at the time severely compromised development, then there was McLaren's ill-fated 'size zero' chassis concept.

Eventually, the Japanese manufacturer got on top of the situation and following a trial season with Toro Rosso in 2018, Red Bull took the plunge and never looked back, Honda subsequently powering Max Verstappen to four successive titles.

Now Honda is partnering with Aston Martin, and Honda Racing Corporation president, Koji Watanabe is confident that those winning ways can continue.

"The definition of success, for me, 2026 is a year to ensure the partnership we have created between Aston Martin and Honda is functioning as planned, as one integrated team," he says, in an interview for the Silverstone-based outfit's site. "We need to ensure we have the values we have aimed for and that we achieve our performance goals.

"The thing we can't predict, and is beyond our control, is the status of our competitors," he continues. "Before we know that, we can't talk about anything beyond meeting our own internal goals for the season.

"Of course, in the longer term, the ultimate goal of this partnership, and our definition of success, is winning the World Championship."

Having initially announced in late 2020 its decision to quit F1 at the end of the following season in order to focus on its next generation of road going vehicles, the Japanese manufacturer agreed to continue 'assisting' Red Bull, before, announcing, in late 2022, its interest in returning to the sport in 2026 along with the rules overhaul.

Asked about the U-turn, Watanabe admits: "I think Honda probably can't live without F1!

"Looking specifically at the technology, however, the power unit regulation changes for 2026 were an important factor in Honda's decision to return to the sport. These regulations encourage a 50:50 output split between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, with the latter nearly tripling in output from 120kW to 350kW. Add to that the requirement to use advanced sustainable fuels, and this becomes very much in line with Honda's philosophy on future propulsion systems.

"It also fits with our business orientation," he admits. "The pinnacle of motorsport is the place to refine our technology, improve our technical capabilities and stand on a world stage that will allow us to showcase all of this. This is very important for the future of Honda."

While Red Bull was now committed to building its own engines, in partnership with Ford, Honda opted to partner with Aston Martin.

"We've always been careful in the partners we select," says Watanabe. "In this instance, I was very impressed with the team's leadership and with the passion and vision of Lawrence Stroll.

"He's very competitive," he continues, "always with a view to winning. It's very impressive. You can see the desire to succeed expressed in the new facilities at the Technology Campus, and also in the way the organisation has been strengthened over the past few years with experienced personnel. The commitment and focus of the team are very strong, and this was very attractive to us. Exciting too!

"The relationship between the engineers is very strong now, but my expectation is that it will improve and intensify the deeper we get into the project. The common ground at the start was this winning spirit, and talking to Lawrence, or any of the leadership team at the campus, there has always been this feeling of being one team. That's very important, the 'one team' philosophy.

"At the moment, there are Aston Martin engineers working at HRC Sakura in Japan, and HRC engineers in Silverstone. We're working very closely through this relationship - there's a huge amount of knowledge and experience flowing between our organisations."

Former Mercedes engine man, Andy Cowell was recently appointed Chief Strategy Officer, and then there's a certain Mr Newey.

"We have a very good relationship, Andy is someone I can call anytime and talk through whatever we're doing in Silverstone or Sakura. Developing and supplying the power unit is entirely the responsibility of HRC, but of course, it is very useful that Andy is well aware of the challenges presented by developing power units and how sensitive and delicate these modern systems are. My respect for him and his achievements in the sport is very high.

"We have a lot of discussions, and whenever we're setting goals for the power unit, naturally, he sets us some very ambitious targets, but it's very helpful to have a senior member of Aston Martin Aramco's leadership who is also an expert in power unit development. There has to be harmony between the chassis and power unit sides of the project, and Andy's role enables that."

And Newey?

"We laughed a lot in the first meeting after he joined Aston Martin," admits Watanabe, "it was very much a case of, 'Well, here we are again!' It's very exciting that he's here and, of course, there is huge respect for him and his capabilities.

"In terms of power unit development, we have our processes and timetable for making a power unit that is capable and competitive, and Adrian has been working from day one on doing the same for the chassis, so we're working very closely and communicating a great deal at the point where those two things meet.

"Adrian is one of the people I communicate with frequently, and it's often a quite intense exchange of opinions, suggestions, and feedback, but always with the focus on winning. Whenever we're having a technical discussion about components or development, it's always with the long-term focus on how we get the win. And that can be about anything: it might be a very detailed design issue, but equally it might be about competitor analysis, or how to manage people to get the best out of them, or even finance and using the limitations of the cost cap most effectively."

Unlike certain rivals, there are no three-year plans.

"It's very important to take a long-term view of this," he says. "Our relationship with Aston Martin is going beyond a technical collaboration - we are sharing a common vision.

"There is a lot of passion in the team, but also a great deal of quality. Pair that with Honda's development skills and ability to provide winning power units, and we have the potential to be successful in F1, not just in 2026, but also '27, '28 and beyond. We are on the eve of something very special."

However, such is the scope of the rules overhaul, Watanabe is taking nothing for granted, and admits that there could be issues at the beginning.

"The new engines don't have the MGU-H, this means there will be some turbo-lag to handle. The other challenge is tripling the output of the electrical motor, while leaving the capacity of the energy store almost unchanged. The key factor here will be making energy management more efficient. It's the most difficult technical challenge in the new regulations.

"Efficiency is going to be the decisive factor in F1's new era, and at Honda, we take pride in having the world's most advanced battery technology. It's going to be important to leverage this strength while also enhancing our energy management performance.

"There is also the power unit cost cap to consider, which will be $130m (£97m) per year from 2026 and covers all costs related to the design, production and supply of the power unit. It's a very serious subject and a significant change in how a power unit supplier will operate, and comes at a time of these major technical changes.

"I'm confident we're going to deal well with these challenges. Honda has been accumulating experience in F1 since 1964, and we're confident that, working together with Aston Martin as one team, we can be very competitive in F1's new era.

"It comes back to the idea of being one team," he insists. "It's vital to trust and respect your partners and continue to improve together. Honda has supplied engines and power units to various teams over the decades. There have been days and years with very good results, but also days and years with poor results. Whatever happens on track, it's important that we remain one entity.

"F1 can be cruel," he admits, no doubt recalling the nightmare of 2015. "It's a cruel business and sometimes, if results are not what you hope for, it's difficult to improve, but it is absolutely vital to maintain the relationship of trust and respect with your partners."