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Adrian Newey’s aggressive aerodynamic design for Aston Martin’s 2026 F1 car failing to deliver the downforce expected is hurting Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll dearly.
The AMR26 left a lot to be desired all throughout pre-season testing in Bahrain over the past two weeks. Many are now even predicting that Aston Martin will start the 2026 F1 season at the back of the grid. Alonso and Stroll might even struggle to finish the first race in Australia.
There is a chance that Aston Martin may fail to meet the 107% rule in Australia, as Stroll has claimed the AMR26 was four seconds a lap off the pace in testing. Aston Martin even had to finish the final day of testing early because of Honda’s battery relentlessly failing in Bahrain.
Honda’s overweight engine overheating and lacking power also meant Aston Martin did not complete many laps to gather data that the Silverstone crew could use to identify the issues from the aggressive design that Newey demanded after joining the team in March last year.
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Adrian Newey has ‘no immediate miracle solution’ for Aston Martin’s lack of downforce
Newey demanded that Aston Martin started designing their 2026 F1 car again when he took over as their managing technical partner in March 2025, which put the team several months behind. Aston Martin are also yet to reap the rewards from Newey’s concept for the AMR26.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and aero regulations
That is according to Nextgen-Auto, which reports that Newey eyed an ‘extremely aggressive’ aero concept for Aston Martin’s first car built to the 2026 F1 regulations. But his concept has not produced the downforce gains they expected, which has led to issues throughout a lap.
Alonso and Stroll were ‘negatively’ impacted by the Aston Martin AMR26’s lack of grip and thermal management problems in Bahrain, which harmed their straight-line and cornering performance. And Newey has ‘no immediate miracle solution’ for the failings of his design.
Aston Martin’s early 2026 struggles are making the team less and less appealing
Newey’s design is hurting Honda’s efforts to improve Aston Martin’s engine, as well, as the Japanese brand agreed to build their power unit around the F1 design guru’s concept. But Aston Martin have not sufficiently designed their cooling for the engine and its peripherals.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
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Honda’s reliability problems were the dominant reason why Aston Martin struggled to post many laps during the Bahrain test. Also, Aston Martin face a six-month timeframe to build a new gearbox, as they even encountered a flurry of problems with their first in-house design.
Aston Martin previously bought their gearboxes from Mercedes as part of their power unit supply deal, which the team scrapped to link up with Honda from 2026. But Aston Martin’s gearbox repeatedly broke, selected the wrong gears and caused rear-end locking in Bahrain.
Newey and owner Lawrence Stroll will hope Aston Martin get on top of their issues quickly, as their early problems to start 2026 are making the team less and less appealing. It is said that Max Verstappen has no interest in joining Aston Martin in 2027 after seeing their woes.
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