Aston Martin needed only a few laps in Barcelona to become the talk of the paddock. The AMR26 immediately distinguished itself with its competitors, featuring a series of bold and unique solutions.
This was hardly a surprise. With Adrian Newey in charge of development, Aston’s 2026 challenger was always going to generate buzz. Still, the British team managed to shock the grid in various aspects.
Front and rear suspension choice, a compact engine cover, aggressive sidepod undercuts and unorthodox front wing design were all noteworthy characteristics of the AMR26.
However, this is only the first iteration of Newey’s 2026 machine. The 67-year-old has confirmed what was reently reported on LWOS – Aston Martin are bringing far more aggressive components to the first round in Australia.
Adrian Newey confirms ambitious AMR26 development
For most teams, the Barcelona shakedown was a chance to get a feel for their 2026 cars. Only Williams, who missed out on last week’s running due to delays, were absent from the track.
Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine and Haas in particular completed significant mileage. In the case of Mercedes, they was enough satisfaction with their first two days on track to begin conducting more advanced set-up work on the final day.
At Aston Martin, however, delays meant the AMR26 only completed one full day of running.
Because of this, the Silverstone-based outfit focused on a condensed programme. Their priority was to confirm the accuracy of data correlation between the circuit and the factory.
Given that Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel only came online last year, doing these basic checks was critical. In addition, Adrian Newey was present at the circuit to ensure some of his ambitious ideas – from a mechanical and aerodynamic perspective – were functioning as intended.
Of course, the team would have preferred to conduct three full days of running. Every lap counts, especially for a team who are integrating a Honda engine for the first time.
Still, as Newey explains, the AMR26 has been designed with long-term development in mind. The team’s primary objective was to implement certain key components to create a foundation.
With another set of tests in Bahrain scheduled before the season opener in Australia, Newey says that Aston Martin have more extreme solutions in the pipeline:
“We’ve attempted to build something that we hope will have quite a lot of development potential.
“What you want to try to avoid is a car that comes out quite optimised within its window – but lacks a lot of development potential. (cont. on next page)