By Jana Van Nieuwenborgh
Earlier this month, Aston Martin revealed its new livery for the 2026 Formula 1 season, hosting an elaborate launch event at Ithra (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The AMR26 is the first Aston Martin car designed under the leadership of Adrian Newey and it marks the beginning of the team’s works partnership with Honda.
Newey, who will serve as Team Principal alongside his role as Managing Technical Partner in 2026 said the upcoming season represents an unusual shift for Formula 1, as both chassis and power unit regulations are being introduced simultaneously for the first time. “With brand new regulations, the best philosophy is never immediately obvious, and your understanding evolves as the car develops,” he said. “With the AMR26, we’ve taken a holistic approach: it’s not about one standout component, but how the full package works together.”
Testing turbulence: from Barcelona to Bahrain
The AMR26 arrived late to the private Barcelona shakedown in late January. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the car appeared without its racing livery. Newey later acknowledged that this was “partially, in truth, because we didn’t have time to paint the car.” When official pre-season testing began at the Bahrain International Circuit, difficulties arose again. Reliability issues, most notably linked to the new power unit partnership with Honda, have limited track time and data collection.
Honda issued a statement confirming the nature of the problem and the impact on the team’s programme during testing. Fernando Alonso was behind the wheel of the AMR26 during Thursday afternoon’s testing session when he experienced problems under braking for Turn 4 and came to a halt shortly afterwards. Responding to this issue, Honda’s statement read: “Our last run with Fernando Alonso yesterday showed a battery-related issue that impacted our test plan with Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team.”
“It’s not where we wanted to be”
Aston Martin Team Representative Pedro de la Rosa expressed that the team is “not where we want to be”. Across the Barcelona Shakedown, the opening three-day test at the Bahrain International Circuit and most of the final test, Aston Martin has completed just 394 laps – significantly below competitors. Definitely we are not where we wanted to be,” de la Rosa admitted. “We have been the team with the [fewest] number of laps during pre-season testing. We would have preferred to do a lot more.”
Despite not having done a lot of laps, the team said they have an enormous amount of data to look into, further preparing themselves for the opening round in Australia. “Everything can be fixed”
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso remains optimistic despite the team’s challenges. “I think everything can be fixed for sure, short and medium-term,” Alonso said during a press conference in Bahrain. “I don’t think there is anything that is impossible to fix.” However, he acknowledges that there is still work to do. “We are a little bit on the backfoot, we have to admit that,” he said, “but hopefully there is time to improve.”
While Aston Martin is aware that they are facing a significant challenge, there remains plenty of hope that the team possesses the right tools required to succeed, and they just need time to bring all elements together effectively. How much time that process will take, however, remains uncertain.
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