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Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll did not hide his frustration after watching his team lag behind their rivals during Bahrain testing ahead of the 2026 season.
The Canadian businessman has worked tirelessly to turn Aston Martin into a winning project, investing heavily in the facilities at Silverstone. He has also recruited strongly, with Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile coming on board, as well as Honda as an engine supplier.
Given Honda’s success with Red Bull during the previous ruleset and Newey’s sensational expertise with regulation changes, many tipped Aston Martin to be towards the front in 2026. But if testing is anything to go by, they look miles off the pace.
How worried are you about Aston Martin after Lance Stroll’s BRUTAL comments?
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were seen struggling to handle the AMR26 in Bahrain, with the latter even claiming that they were four seconds off the pace of their rivals. Alonso threw his gloves in fury after getting out of the car in the garage.
Newey has opted for an aggressive design which differs from his rivals for 2026. It caught attention, but now it is getting the wrong kind as they struggle towards the back, and boss Stroll is not pleased.
Lawrence Stroll had a ‘face like thunder’ leaving Bahrain after seeing the 2026 Aston Martin on track
Stroll gave his engineers ‘a real dressing down’ after testing in Bahrain. Leaving the paddock after day three, he was seen with a ‘face like thunder’, as presenter and journalist Simon Lazenby noted.
He said via Rolling Start | The American F1 Podcast: “Did you see Lawrence Stroll leaving the paddock at the end of day three? I don’t know if you saw Ted’s Notebook, but he had a face like thunder.
“I think that’s the story of testing. The story of testing is that the dream team was assembled, right? Adrien Newey at the helm. They had Andy Cowell, they moved him aside.
“They’ve got Enrico Cardile from Ferrari. They’ve got the new factory up and running. They’ve got the new wind tunnel up and running.
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“Everything looks best in class, and they got a car that Lance Stroll said is or was four seconds off the pace, right? Like it came out the box and everyone went: ‘Oh, that’s a nice design, that’s different from everybody else.’
“But doesn’t care what it looks like. It’ll be down now to see how Adrian and the team can turn that around and I wonder how quickly they can.
“But he is the greatest designer in history. We talk about it, it’s obvious. It’s a cliche, but he has, he’s won more titles than anybody, and he’ll just apply himself.
“And in Fernando, I think he’s got still a master who’ll be really, really clever with the way that he can, what’s the right word, the way he can kind of smooth over the new regulations, get ahead of the other drivers. But unless he’s got the car underneath him to do that, it’s going to be very difficult.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
Why is it going so wrong for Aston Martin in 2026 testing?
It is still early days for Aston Martin, but things are not looking good for the team. Alonso’s inner circle warns ‘another year in hell’ could be upon the Spaniard in 2026.
Alonso says Aston Martin can ‘unlock seconds’ if they can find a way to run continuously. Reliability has proven to be an issue, and much of that is down to Honda’s engines.
GPS data showed Honda’s power unit cost Aston Martin 1.5s in Bahrain per lap. It equates to 37.5% of the four-second deficit that Lance Stroll claims the team have to the rest of the field.
Newey is doing ‘a lot of delegating’ at Aston Martin to try and fix the problems ahead of the season opener in Melbourne. The team know that they will not be fighting at the front to begin with, but they could be dead last.
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