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Aston Martin’s struggles during pre-season testing look set to continue at the upcoming Australian Grand Prix with F1’s changing regulations paralysing Adrian Newey’s team.
Over six days of testing in Bahrain, no team completed fewer laps than Aston Martin, leaving them short of data and confidence ahead of the season opener.
Lance Stroll finished sixth at last year’s Australian Grand Prix, but the idea that he or Fernando Alonso will repeat that feat now looks non-existent.
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Adrian Newey has ordered drastic changes at Honda, with the Japanese manufacturer a long way behind their rivals and lacking reliability.
Aston Martin and Adrian Newey have reportedly drawn up a plan for the race weekend in Melbourne, but it won’t fill their fans with any confidence that they’re closer to resolving any of the problems they discovered during testing.
READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Aston Martin expected to complete the ‘minimum distance’ at the Australian Grand Prix
A report from Motorsport Italia has explained what’s happening behind the scenes at Aston Martin and Honda.
Aston Martin are trying to be more patient with Honda than McLaren were 10 years ago when they suffered a very similar set of problems with the power unit supplier.
They proved with Red Bull that they can turn things around, but time is not on their side.
The report suggests that Honda will be ‘completely unprepared’ for the race in Australia, and the concern about a lack of spare parts that hampered their running in testing hasn’t disappeared.
What punishment should Aston Martin be given if they miss the Australian Grand Prix?
Reportedly, Aston Martin even considered invoking ‘force majeure’ and skipping the race entirely, although this would have resulted in ‘penalties’ for the team as per the Concorde Agreement.
Therefore, Aston Martin are expected to be in Australia, but Motorsport reports, ‘the intention is to complete the minimum distance needed to line up for the race and stop after a few laps’.
On top of this, Newey has set up a ‘crisis unit’ to support Honda, with Andy Cowell now positioned in Japan to help get things up to speed as quickly as possible.
Cowell oversaw much of Mercedes’ success when the engine regulations changed in 2014, but hasn’t yet been able to have the same influence at Aston Martin and Honda.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
Honda admits the 2026 F1 season has been a ‘very difficult’ situation for Aston Martin
Aston Martin are so far off where they wanted to be that it’s hard to see the team being competitive at any point this season.
The car Newey and his team have designed looks very different to everything else on the grid, but without a reliable power unit and Aston Martin’s potential gearbox issues, their full potential might not be realised for months.
This raises questions about Alonso’s F1 future and whether he’s willing to be patient and wait to see whether Honda can fix their engine in time for him to mount a title challenge in 2027.
There are concerns about the vibrations coming from Honda’s engine that are impacting the battery, and speaking about the problem, Honda Racing chief Ikuo Takeishi said: “We are aware that the test results indicate a very difficult and challenging situation.
“Our engineers at Sakura and the track staff are working hard to make improvements.”
Newey has privately shared concerns about Honda, and there’s a belief that the internal combustion engine doesn’t have the required power to recharge the battery, leaving the team ‘80 horsepower’ short under these conditions.
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