At Ithra in Saudi Arabia, Aston Martin unveiled the livery for the AMR26, their F1 challenger for 2026.
It’s the first car that new team principal Adrian Newey has been able to truly have an input on, having left Red Bull in 2024. Aston Martin is now a full works team, and has entered a new engine partnership with Honda – the only team on the grid to be supplied by the Japanese manufacturer.
Fans suggested that the car could be a front-running contender, especially with Newey’s penchant for nailing new regulations in their first year – as he did at McLaren in the 1990s and with Red Bull in the ground-effect era.
But following a disrupted run plan at the Spain test, driver Fernando Alonso has tried to temper expectations.
Speaking to Spanish outlet AS, Alonso said: “We’re definitely behind, we’re at square one. I don’t think we’ve even started.
In Barcelona we were able to run some track time, but I treated it more like a filming day – a shakedown that other teams did privately at Silverstone with 200 kilometres that we couldn’t do.
Bahrain will be our very first test, our very first contact with the car. Barcelona was just starting the car and seeing that everything worked.”
Newey said: “2026 is a rare moment in Formula One because, for the first time, the chassis and power unit regulations have changed together. With brand-new regulations, the best philosophy is never immediately obvious, and your understanding evolves as the car develops.