Aston Martin are likely going to attract a lot of attention this year. Not only is this down to the fact that they have in Adrian Newey an ace F1 car designer and a strategic master stroke from none other than Lawrence Stroll’s enterprise but in Fernando Alonso a great driver who could be in his last season. Or very nearly the last. Moreover the new rules and regulations are expected to favour the team in green, one that’ll go past all red lights in what could be a mission towards ascendency this year.
Having said that, the Aston Martin F1 team instead made some other kind of news right ahead of the official season testing for 2026, something that wouldn’t please their fans and definitely not the critics anyhow.
So what happened with the famous British Constructor and what’s the headline saying about Alonso’s team where it comes to Spain?
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Aston Martin’s absence from the opening phase of the late-January Formula 1 test in Spain raised eyebrows across the paddock, as most teams wasted no time in putting their 2026 machinery through its first on-track mileage. While not skipping the Barcelona session entirely, the Silverstone-based outfit chose to delay its running until the latter part of the week, effectively sacrificing valuable early data.
The decision means Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will log fewer laps than many of their rivals during a test window primarily focused on systems checks, reliability and correlation work under the sport’s sweeping new technical regulations. With the AMR26 representing the team’s first car influenced by Adrian Newey’s technical leadership and a fresh works partnership with Honda, every kilometre carries added significance.
Aston Martin has played down concerns, framing the delay as a controlled approach rather than a setback. However, reduced track time inevitably limits opportunities to identify early issues, particularly with new power unit integration and cooling concepts — areas that have proven critical under past regulation changes.
While further testing opportunities remain before the season opener, missing the start of the Spanish running places extra pressure on Aston Martin to maximise efficiency later on.
In a tightly compressed development race, even small delays can have lasting consequences once the championship begins. Isn’t it?
