Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack admitted that the weekends in Monaco and Barcelona – at two completely different circuits – left the team with no illusions about the AMR26.
While the main reason for the team’s weak performance is still clearly linked to Honda’s power unit deficit, the last two rounds also showed there is little reason to believe things are significantly better on the chassis side.
“The track character cannot be more different here to Monaco,” Krack admitted after the Barcelona race. “You have a lot of high-speed corners and a lot of medium-speed corners. Very few low-speed corners. In Monaco, it is the opposite. In Monaco, you struggle to make the tyres work. Here, you try to cool the tyres. It is really very different. But the fact that we are behind on both circuits, shows you that it is all areas that we have to work on.”
If there was some reason for cautious optimism in the Aston Martin camp ahead of Monaco, given the circuit’s characteristics place less emphasis on power, the reality proved sobering. Both drivers qualified at the back of the grid, behind even Cadillac. And while Fernando Alonso managed to score a point, it was largely a result of multiple retirements and various issues for rivals, including Sergio Perez’s post-race penalty. The Mexican crossed the line 10th for Cadillac but was later demoted to 15th.
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer of the Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
Barcelona delivered an even more crushing result. Lance Stroll and Alonso again occupied the final row in qualifying, with the gap to the Ferrari-powered Cadillacs stretching to a full second.
It was after that session that Alonso described Aston Martin as having “the worst car” and “the worst engine” on the grid.
Both cars then retired from Sunday’s race with reliability issues.
Krack agreed there is no single solution to the team’s problems.
“I think it is everything,” he said when asked what had caused such a brutal lack of pace in Barcelona compared to the opposition. “I think we need to improve. If it was only one thing, it would be quite easy.”
“It is weighing on everyone”
Still, unlike most of its rivals, Aston Martin is not aggressively delivering upgrades for the car, instead focusing on a major package expected to arrive at Spa in mid-July. Until then, little is likely to change.
“It is weighing on everyone,” Krack admitted. “You can feel it. You can feel it in the garage. You can feel it especially with the drivers. We discussed it already before. It is a very difficult situation.
“On the other hand, we have a strong leader [in Adrian Newey]. The decision was made to upgrade [the car] then. It is for all of us to commit to that decision. Even if it is difficult.
“It is our job to keep the motivation high. To learn as much as you can. I said it before, there are a lot of things we can improve still with this car. It would be easy to say we just go in circles and wait for the upgrades. Some of the problems we have will still be there. We need to use the opportunities now to solve them. Or at least get better.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“You always learn new things, as crazy as it might sound. When you are between three and four seconds off, you think you are driving in a different category. But still you learn a lot. Barcelona is very difficult for energy. You have seen the FIA was tweaking the energy a couple of times before the event. It is a difficult circuit for energy – [and] I think we learned a great deal. How we have to adjust our processes to get the maximum out of it.”
Speaking about positives, Krack could point to only one.
“It is difficult to see them,” he said. “The single pit stop that we did was very good, in my opinion. We have to work and try to improve in all other areas.”
Aston Martin’s difficult start to 2026 marks its worst opening to a season since the team rejoined Formula 1 under Lawrence Stroll’s ownership in 2021. After years of heavy investment, high-profile hires and major infrastructure upgrades, the team had been expected to take a significant step forward this year – particularly with the AMR26 being the first car developed under the leadership of Adrian Newey.
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