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Aston Martin barely made it to F1’s Barcelona shakedown a few weeks ago, and their absence from the inaugural week of running has exposed their ‘main weakness’ at pre-season testing in Bahrain.
After Williams announced they wouldn’t be travelling to Barcelona for the initial shakedowns of the 2026 F1 cars, it emerged that Aston Martin were suffering from a similar issue.
Development delays threw doubt over Silverstone-based outfit’s presence in Montmelo, but they managed to get the necessary certifications cleared in time for a fraction of track time on the final two days of the shakedown.
The premise of the congregation in Barcelona was to check the reliability of every team’s new 2026-spec engine, as well as seek out any gremlins that may pose problems later on.
For Aston Martin, they were unable to get a sufficient number of laps in at the shakedown, and the gremlins have now seemingly caught up with them.
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Aston Martin’s day one issues at Bahrain test should have been found during Barcelona shakedown
Aston Martin’s first day of testing in Bahrain saw them collect the lowest number of laps out of everyone on the grid, with Lance Stroll clocking in just 36 rotations of the Sakhir International Circuit.
According to a report by Motorsport Espana, the AMR26 was hit by issues with their new Honda power unit, with the reliability of the engine being suggested to be its ‘main weakness’.
It’s reportedly overheating more than what was initially anticipated, which highlights just how damaging Aston Martin’s absence from the first few days of track time in Barcelona was for them.
Unlike Williams, who benefited from the mileage Mercedes and the rest of their customer teams managed at the shakedown, Aston Martin are the only team on the grid to utilise Honda power.
Adrian Newey has faced ‘headaches’ from the power unit side of things, which have proved to be more frustrating than if it were an issue with the chassis, due to the fact that aerodynamics is the designer’s expertise.
If they were present in Barcelona, this sort of issue would have been identified a lot earlier, meaning that their testing programme in Sakhir would have run a lot more smoothly.
Unfortunately, it’s a lot of ifs. Fortunately, Aston Martin still have five more days of pre-season testing before the first round of racing appears.
Newey will be hoping that they can turn things around in order for them to gather some valuable data ahead of the season opener.
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Aston Martin are also facing an issue with the weight of their 2026 F1 car
Another addition to the list of issues Aston Martin are currently experiencing is to do with the weight of their new chassis.
Williams are having trouble with the same thing, and it could reportedly cost both F1 teams around £500k each to make the necessary modifications.
Newey’s first F1 car at Aston Martin was one of the most highly anticipated challengers on the grid prior to the start of the 2026 season launches.
While many have been wowed by the extreme design philosophy that the 66-year-old has employed, the state of the team is currently leaving a lot to be desired.
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