2025 Aston Martin | Aramco F1 Team

[FNTC]

Those countries probably have laws that prohibit this style of giveaway, since for example Denmark is banned but not Norway. So it probably not shipping related, etc.

[AhmerBaig]

Fernando Alonso confident about 2026

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/alonso-p ... 2026-claim

[FittingMechanics]

Alonso doesn't have the best record in predicting these things but it would be great to have him in the mix.

[FNTC]

Seems pretty balanced to me:

“We have our new facilities completed now. We have our own wind tunnel. We have Honda as our engine supplier, and only for us. Aramco, A&E, we have some good things to be optimistic about. But this is a very competitive sport, and everyone is doing a very good job. We'll see,” he added.

[ME4ME]

Exactly. You can have the best ingredients on your kitchen table. Doesn't mean the meal will be good.

[Otromundo]

Exactly. You can have the best ingredients on your kitchen table. Doesn't mean the meal will be good.

I think we can all agree on that. We'll see what they're cooking up. It's a nice touch of intrigue in this "Fernando against all odds" story

[peewon]

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hond ... ne-launch/

This is interesting. A PU launch in Tokyo on Jan 20. Whats weird is Stefano Domenicali is a speaker at the event. Possibly to whip up some excitement in the Japanese market I guess but odd to see an F1 figure at a team launch event.

[De Wet]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/848520810928878


Staff shake-up by Newey...

[Emag]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/848520810928878


Staff shake-up by Newey...

Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff for 2026, but could be good long term.

[diffuser]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/848520810928878


Staff shake-up by Newey...

...
Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff for 2026, but could be good long term.

Depends on how you look at it...

#1 This was announced over a month ago.
#2 Newey did the same when he started at RBR in 2006.

[diffuser]

Fernando Alonso confident about 2026

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/alonso-p ... 2026-claim

While Alonso's optimism is positive, this is clearly a puff piece. It is obvious that the 2025 - 2026 off-season is an improvement over the last year's. Then, the AMR24 had been significantly off the pace, the 2025 season operated under the same regulations with new regs for 2026. This made the bulk of the 2025 development time and funding be shifted toward the 2026 regulations and the AMR26. So, they were significantly behind, the technical team appeared lost at the end of 2024, they needed significant funds to catch up but funds were being redirected to the AMR26.

So even though Alonso is spending 12-hour days in the simulator learning the new buttons and systems, he has no more information than anyone else about how fast the competition is going to be.

[TyreSlip]

At Alonso's age, he has to work much harder than someone in his 20s to maintain his sharpness and fitness level. It would be difficult to keep the motivation going without hope, so he has no choice but to believe in 2026.

[Emag]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/848520810928878


Staff shake-up by Newey...

...
Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff for 2026, but could be good long term.

Depends on how you look at it...

#1 This was announced over a month ago.
#2 Newey did the same when he started at RBR in 2006.

Well, no matter when this was announced, if it was within this year it's way too early to have any positive effect on the 2026 car. At least definitely not on the launch spec. I have no doubt that there were valid reasons to let these people go. I mean, Aston started 2023 with pretty much the 2nd best package and they had no clue what to do from there. Massive failure to end up where they did 2 years later. Someone needs to be held accountable, because this wasn't just a small misstep as one might say in Ferrari's case for 2022->2023 and 2024->2025. They literally went from 2nd fastest to barely scrapping for points in the span of a year. Huge drop off.

In any case, with the amount of investments and money that has been going into Aston Martin the last couple of years, in addition to all the new hires (obviously including here Newey), there's a pretty high chance this ends up being a competitive team again in the nearby future. My "concern" is more on Alonso's side, so for him it's a bit critical "how near" is that future.

Would be a shame to see Fernando retire without having a go at a competitive car again.

[diffuser]

...
Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff for 2026, but could be good long term.

Depends on how you look at it...

#1 This was announced over a month ago.
#2 Newey did the same when he started at RBR in 2006.

Well, no matter when this was announced, if it was within this year it's way too early to have any positive effect on the 2026 car. At least definitely not on the launch spec. I have no doubt that there were valid reasons to let these people go. I mean, Aston started 2023 with pretty much the 2nd best package and they had no clue what to do from there. Massive failure to end up where they did 2 years later. Someone needs to be held accountable, because this wasn't just a small misstep as one might say in Ferrari's case for 2022->2023 and 2024->2025. They literally went from 2nd fastest to barely scrapping for points in the span of a year. Huge drop off.

In any case, with the amount of investments and money that has been going into Aston Martin the last couple of years, in addition to all the new hires (obviously including here Newey), there's a pretty high chance this ends up being a competitive team again in the nearby future. My "concern" is more on Alonso's side, so for him it's a bit critical "how near" is that future.

Would be a shame to see Fernando retire without having a go at a competitive car again.

What we keep hearing is what we saw from RBR in the first weeks of the last set of regs change. Make sure we gave the basics right, then start to develop. That what I expect. Is there a chance someone does a better job than AMR to start the year. It's gonna be what is gonna be. No quantity of hoping from our part is gonna change that.