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One of the teams that appears to be on the back foot heading into the 2026 Formula 1 season is Aston Martin.
Adrian Newey was made team principal of Aston Martin towards the end of last season, adding even more responsibility to his workload ahead of designing a new car for an updated set of regulations.
The AMR26 finally made its debut on Thursday at the Barcelona shakedown, with Lance Stroll managing to complete a handful of laps before Fernando Alonso had a more successful day on Friday.
Fill in the blank: Aston Martin will finish P_ in the 2026 F1 standings
The Spaniard managed to complete at least 49 laps on the final day, although this was dwarfed by the running that the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Haas completed across the test.
Newey has carried across aspects of Red Bull’s 2023 car to Aston Martin, but that doesn’t guarantee any level of success this year.
Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm has now shared more details about what sources in the F1 paddock are telling him about Aston Martin’s latest entry, and they’ll be concerning for both of Newey’s drivers.
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Aston Martin’s 2026 car is ‘overweight’ with Honda engine not in an ‘optimal state’
Speaking about Aston Martin on The Race F1 Podcast, Mitchell-Malm said: “What is really curious is whether or not Newey being in the position that he’s in as managing technical partner.
“So fully involved and invested, none of this Red Bull arguing over you know how much he does care, how much work has he actually put into it, but he’s also team principal now as well.
“So he’s got no one in the structure that can say no on any level to him is how much of that kind of completely uncaged Newey is just a full unleashing of quirky ideas potential and as you say not for the lack of trying, coming up with a class-leading F1 car and how much of it is these are all great ideas in kind of principle or in the wind tunnel or in your head but how does it actually work in reality?
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“Getting answers to that over the course of the season will be fascinating, assuming we get to see the car at its full potential, because as I understand it at the moment, it’s overweight and not just by a couple of kilos.
“The Honda engine, all the information I’ve had from various sources, is that Honda’s not in an optimal state for the start of the new engine rules.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
Honda creating ‘headaches’ for Aston Martin that Adrian Newey can’t fix
One of the benefits of installing Newey as team principal is his ability to be at the forefront of decision-making.
His instincts over the past 30 years in Formula 1 have rarely been wrong, but he’ll also be learning that Aston Martin could encounter problems this season that are out of his control.
A report from ESPN has shared more harrowing details about the work going on behind the scenes at Honda.
After Honda decided to quit F1 following the conclusion of their partnership with Red Bull, they had to restart the project when Aston Martin asked them to return.
This has left them on the back foot, and ‘sources’ told ESPN that the Honda power unit has been causing Aston Martin ‘headaches’ so far.
Newey has infamously brought updates to his cars late in testing cycles, meaning the glimpse that fans saw of the AMR26 in Spain might not be anywhere near the final design.
Aston Martin are trying ideas none of their rivals are examining, but if the power unit isn’t up to scratch, then it could end up being yet another frustrating campaign for Alonso and Stroll.
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