Aston Martin was the last team to join last week’s shakedown in Barcelona. On Thursday Lance Stroll squeezed in a few laps in the brand‑new AMR26, followed by teammate Fernando Alonso on Friday. The radical design from Aston Martin team principal and chief designer Adrian Newey immediately became the talk of the paddock. The celebrated Brit has since admitted the car will look even more extreme at the first race in Melbourne.
The AMR26 stood out last week not only for its bare livery – Aston Martin has yet to reveal the final colour scheme – but also for its unique design. Adrian Newey made striking choices in the front and rear suspension, the engine cover, the cut‑outs in the sidepods, the distinctive front wing and a host of other aerodynamic elements. This, however, is only the first version of the new car. In Australia we will see an even more aggressive design, Newey promised via Aston Martin’s official channels.
The design process did cause some delay. The British squad managed only one full day of running at the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya. “We’ve tried to build something that we hope has a lot of development potential,” Newey explained. “What you want to avoid is a car that is already pretty optimised within its envelope but has little development potential. We’ve tried to do the opposite and are therefore focusing on the basic principles. In doing so we know that some components – wings, bodywork, you name it – still have a lot of potential.”
‘In Australia the car will be very different’
“The AMR26 that races in Melbourne will be very different from the car we ran during the shakedown in Barcelona,” he promised. “And the AMR26 we finish the season with in Abu Dhabi will again be very different from the one we start the season with. It’s vital to keep an open mind.” The limited development time and the wholesale changes to the team structure — including the new Honda power unit — meant Newey and his crew could afford to take bigger risks while preparing for 2026.
“The reality is we only got a model of the 2026 car into the wind tunnel in mid‑April,” he revealed. “Whereas most, if not all, teams had already tested a model in early January. So we were already four months behind. That led to a very, very curtailed research-and-design cycle. The car was only ready at the very last moment, which is why we had to fight to make the shakedown in Barcelona. ”
