Jolyon Palmer tells Adrian Newey not a ‘single aspect’ of his 2026 Aston Martin is working

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Aston Martin are a complete disaster heading into the 2026 season opener in Melbourne as they face multiple issues with the AMR26.

Team principal Adrian Newey has himself admitted that the team are months behind schedule as they started development in the wind tunnel much later than their rivals. This has come back to bite them as they looked miles off the pace in pre-season.

Aston Martin completed the fewest laps across Bahrain testing, with the Silverstone outfit doing just six on the final day on Friday. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll encountered several issues with the AMR26 and its Honda power unit.

Aston Martin are currently facing a 38kph deficit to Ferrari’s engine! Do you think they’ll even QUALIFY for the Australian Grand Prix?!

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Stroll’s onboard footage reveals a gearbox issue for Aston Martin as he could not lean on it in the corners. The Canadian spun out onto the gravel trap in Bahrain after losing drive at turn 11.

Furthermore, Honda’s batteries are failing ‘en masse’ ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. It creates a worrying environment for Newey and his team as they look glued to the back of the grid.

Jolyon Palmer says not a ‘single aspect’ of Adrian Newey’s Aston Martin is working

Speaking on F1 Nation, former driver and pundit Jolyon Palmer assessed all of Aston Martin’s struggles in pre-season testing. He sees nothing working on the AMR26 heading into Melbourne.

“They’re in a world of pain right now,” he said. “The problem is, I don’t think there’s a single aspect of that car that’s working.

“To start with, Honda are way behind the curve with the power unit. They’re not delivering the power and the energy management is tough. The reliability is also a bigger concern. So you’ve got everything about the power unit not functioning, as well as all their rivals.

A frank verdict from Stroll as Aston Martin look for answers 👀

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“The reliability is a massive headache, which we saw fully play out on the last day where they could only do six laps and absolutely nothing meaningful to put on the board, and that means they’re not finding anything in terms of the chassis development as well.

“If you look at someone like Aston Martin, they are so behind working out what setups to run on that car, because they’re so busy putting out fires on other parts that is no wonder they don’t feel like they got downforce.

“It’s no wonder the car is really difficult to drive. The gearbox is now made in-house, which has also got some issues with it. Everywhere you look, there is problems going on there.”

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2

Can Aston Martin solve their Honda woes in 2026?

The issues are so bad at Silverstone that there are concerns that Aston Martin will not qualify for the Australian GP. Stroll claimed that they were four seconds off the pace in Bahrain, which could put them outside the 107% rule.

It is clear that Newey and his team have a significant amount of work to do to give them any chance of being competitive in 2026. Aston Martin engineers are sleeping ‘three hours a night’ as they try to find solutions.

Honda hope to fix their issues by the Chinese GP and give Aston Martin the chance to fight towards the front. But if they cannot, their drivers will soon lose patience.

Alonso is on the verge of a ‘nervous breakdown’ at Aston Martin as he faces another season of disappointment. So much was expected from the team and the Spaniard, but instead, he could be running dead last in Australia.