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Aston to sit out the first day of the test, still yet to confirm if they will be running during the 5 days.
I suspect most teams will be running days 3 through 5.
Monday and Tuesday are cloudy, with Tuesday having a chance of rain. I guess if you're going to miss monday, might as well miss tuesday too and start on wednesday with some sun.
But teams which have a car ready would benefit from starting monday anyway. They could skip tuesday and go back on wednesday with some data.
Aston to sit out the first day of the test, still yet to confirm if they will be running during the 5 days.
Drat, and I felt so relieved when the Williams news seemed to fulfill the rumour that a team would miss the first test. Now I need to go back to worrying!
Aston to sit out the first day of the test, still yet to confirm if they will be running during the 5 days.
Drat, and I felt so relieved when the Williams news seemed to fulfill the rumour that a team would miss the first test. Now I need to go back to worrying!
You're only allowed to run 3 out of 5 days. You can’t run all 5 days.
Carlos Miquel said yesterday that they're targeting Tuesday but he thinks Wednesday is more likely.
Also (this is me saying it, not Carlos) it's supposed to rain on Tuesday so I'd expect most teams would skip it.
Aston to sit out the first day of the test, still yet to confirm if they will be running during the 5 days.
I suspect most teams will be running days 3 through 5.
Not sure about that. If you are ready to go on Monday and the weather looks good why wouldn't you take it? The earlier you run, the earlier you get real data, the earlier you can verify all your development.
Aston to sit out the first day of the test, still yet to confirm if they will be running during the 5 days.
I suspect most teams will be running days 3 through 5.
Not sure about that. If you are ready to go on Monday and the weather looks good why wouldn't you take it? The earlier you run, the earlier you get real data, the earlier you can verify all your development.
The pre-season rules for this test prevent you from running everyday. If you run Monday thru Wednesday, you'll be banned from running Thursday and Friday. I looked it up.
I suspect most teams will be running days 3 through 5.
Not sure about that. If you are ready to go on Monday and the weather looks good why wouldn't you take it? The earlier you run, the earlier you get real data, the earlier you can verify all your development.
The pre-season rules for this test prevent you from running everyday. If you run Monday thru Wednesday, you'll be banned from running Thursday and Friday. I looked it up.
I know. I am saying that running on day 1 is optimal instead of waiting around. The earlier you start collecting real data the more time you have to make adjustments until the next test or first race. I suspect that teams that are ready to go on Monday will go immediately instead of waiting until Wednesday to start testing.
If AM decides to run on Wednesday,it’s as good as a car reveal.How r they going to stop photoes n videos?
I believe they'll run the tests with a camouflage or last year's livery, like Alpine. Regarding the car's design, I don't think they're too concerned about it being ''leaked''.
Since the press won't be there and there will supposedly be a social media ban, where even the teams aren't allowed to release footage of their own car in Barcelona, the most we'll get is some grainy footage taken from a point off the track, like in Audi's shakedown.
If AM decides to run on Wednesday,it’s as good as a car reveal.How r they going to stop photoes n videos?
I've never been to Barcelona, so I don't know how easy it is to get picts from outside but the media isn't allowed to attend this test.
This track is not far from a bunker.
The grainy leaked Audi footage had to be recorded from a scaffolding put at a good distance from the track, in a hill.
There's cameras that can get HD photos even from a distance of 200 meters. The problem is that those are usually quite expensive and not everyone has access to one unless they're passionate hobbyist or somehow involved with media.
I am hoping there will be one or the other present this time around at Barcelona willing to get some nice shots of the cars.
The Audi photos and videos looked like they came out of a phone.
I've never been to Barcelona, so I don't know how easy it is to get picts from outside but the media isn't allowed to attend this test.
This track is not far from a bunker.
The grainy leaked Audi footage had to be recorded from a scaffolding put at a good distance from the track, in a hill.
There's cameras that can get HD photos even from a distance of 200 meters. The problem is that those are usually quite expensive and not everyone has access to one unless they're passionate hobbyist or somehow involved with media.
I am hoping there will be one or the other present this time around at Barcelona willing to get some nice shots of the cars.
The Audi photos and videos looked like they came out of a phone.
200 meters is quite more possible from inside the track enclosure. Have you been there any time?
little summary of changes in staff at AM ahead of 2026 based on the moving staff thread and linkedin
joined Adrian Newey former Chief Technical Officer (Redbull), → [[Team Principal]] started march 2025 Andey Cowell former Managing Director (Mercedes HPP), → Chief Strategic Officer started Oct. 2024 Enrico Cardile former Technical Director (Ferrari), → Chief Technical Officer July 2025 Duncan Elliott former Head of Composite Design (Mercedes), → Chief Designer started July 2025 Gioacchino Vino former Chief Aerodynamicist (Mercedes), same role, started March 2025 Marco Fainello former Head of Performance (Ferrari) , → Senior Consultant reported Nov. 2025 Gilles Wood former Chief Engineer (Redbull), → Simulation and Modelling Director started May 2025 Bob Bell former consultant (Alpine), → Executive Director, Technical, March 24 Robbie Stevens former Head of Aero Science (Alpine), → Head of Vehicle Science , started June 2025
Stuart Boulton Senior Transmission Design Engineer (Mercedes), → Head of Transmission started January 2025 Phil MackerethHead of Hydraulics (Redbull), same role, started July 2024
Paul Field- Group Director Production and Supply Chains, (Red Bull) , → Chief Operating Officer, started nov. 2025 Duncan Cartledge, senior R&D test engineer, (Red Bull) , → lead T&D engineer, started September 2025 Emma McKay Stores Manager (Red Bull), → Stores and Internal Logistics Manager , started August 2025 Fabrizio Pilotti Chief Information Officer (Mercedes HPP), same role, started July 2025
Nick Roberts Senior Strategy Engineer, VC (Racing Bulls) , same role
left Ian Greig Head of Aerodynamics -> Head of Aerodynamic Analysis and Technology (Red Bull), left oct 2025 Akio Haga former Chief Designer , → AM performance, left Oct 25 Eric Blandin former Aerodynamics Director , still at AM according to linkedin, but rumoured departure Dan Fallows Technical Director, → Technical Director (Racing Bulls), left Nov 24 Mark Robinson former Chief Aerodynamicist,→ AM performance, Apr 24 Carys Conlon former Lead Engineer Wings and Nose → Team Leader, Gearbox , Audi, left oct 24 James Winepress ? → ? Andrew Alessi Head of Technical Operations, → ? both still at am according to linkedin Matteo Sansavini former Aero Group Leader, → Aero Project Leader, McLaren, left march 2025 Michael Wilson former Principal Aerodynamicist, → AM Performance, left May 25
some of the ones under "left" have just been moved to "Aston Martin Performance Technologies", but some people have noted that some of the staff gets moved there when getting fired without AM having to pay compensation, so i put them under left assuming that they actually will. For some of them it makes sense, eg. Akio Haga, for whom there is a replacement in Duncan Elliott who joined as the same role (Chief Designer) so thats likely to be true.
