Bernie Collins says her former Aston Martin colleagues are ‘worn down’ after years of disappointment

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Bernie Collins feels for her old colleagues at Aston Martin with the team in crisis at the start of the 2026 F1 season.

Ahead of the season’s resumption at the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, Aston Martin are bottom of the standings below the brand-new Cadillac team. They have a 100% Q1 elimination record and have already suffered five DNFs across the two cars.

Collins joined the Silverstone-based team in 2015 when they were still known as Force India and worked in their race strategy department until her departure in 2022.

Has Lawrence Stroll made too many changes at Aston Martin?

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Bernie Collins expresses sympathy for Aston Martin

Sky Sports pundit Collins was asked about Aston Martin in an interview with Off the Ball.

Engine suppliers Honda are bringing a reliability upgrade for Miami but they don’t expect to see an uptick in performance. Even when they reduce the power deficit, the team aren’t guaranteed to be competitive.

As Collins points out, Aston Martin’s chassis is also flawed, as well as their gearbox, which was previously built by Mercedes.

It’s worth noting that, while the situation has never been this bleak, Aston Martin have underperformed for a number of years relative to Lawrence Stroll’s investment.

Fernando Alonso’s podiums at the start of 2023 appeared to herald a new beginning, but they soon slipped back into the midfield, finishing the ground-effect era in seventh place.

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And will they get one at all?

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“It’s not going well at all,” said Collins. “It’s seemed really, really difficult from the outside. The engine obviously is a highlight, we talk about that a lot, but I think how it’s integrated in the car, the chassis isn’t going well, the gearbox isn’t necessarily going well.

“A lot of work for the team to do, and they’ve had a relentless few years of trying to build this team up. They’ve gone through massive changes in terms of the factory and everything going on in the background.

“I’m hopeful that with the resource behind them they can pull it around, but I think everyone there has been pretty worn down.”

Bernie Collins explains why Aston Martin can’t give up on 2026 season

Collins was also asked whether it was prudent for Aston Martin to abandon the 2026 season and focus on their 2027 car. Adrian Newey accepted his first season wouldn’t be a success even before testing.

By the time he joined the team, rivals had already had their 2026 car in the wind tunnel for months. Their arrival at the Barcelona Shakedown was delayed, demonstrating the knock-on effect.

“It’s very difficult because you know that these regulations are going to carry on into next season,” said Collins. “When you’ve got a big regulation change between last year and this year, you can do that because the development on last year’s car isn’t necessarily going to contribute to this year’s car.

“Any development on this year’s car is going to help on next year’s car, unless you’re fundamentally changing the internals. You need to be a bit more managed this year on how you do that. It’s got to be much later in the year before teams decide that.”