2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[GhostF1]

Newey say in that interview about fuel, and everyone still forgetting about the huge impact from the fuel this year and Aramco have an advantage. https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsport ... on-martin/

Outside of the fact that they have supplied F2 with sustainable fuel, I don't think this is anything more than Newey doing a sponsor/part owner(?) advert

Although they haven't developed fuels specifically for Formula 1, they already do so in a very similar category, and there's no denying they have more experience than those who have never done it before.

It's good experience to have, they will now just be pushing the mixtures for F1, they are crucial to the power units stable running. Honda has the lab and departments to develop some fuels in-house. The mixture used in previous power units was largely a mixture developed by Honda with ExxonMobil providing production and refining techniques and this development is what made their combustion technique stable. I'll have to find the Japanese article, they were fairly detailed.
Same with the engine oil, where they were using natural compounds usually found in the cosmetic industry. It was never confirmed but one of them was speculated pretty seriously to be Ambergris (or associated/similar compounds) which has some.. interesting properties.
Again, in that recent Japanese interview with Kakuda, he mentions they've been developing the fuel and lubricants together with Aramco for a while now, so it stands to reason they'd be passing a lot of this knowledge onto them. So it's not unreasonable to assume Aramco and Honda are probably the best combination, for the moment at least, to start with these new fuels, experience wise.
It's also comforting to know that at the Barcelona test, they were using the new fuels and validating the ICE with them.

[Leon Kennedy]

Jesus, so much negativity and scepticism here, you guys are truly and utterly cooked. Wait at least until the first race before all the doom and gloom takes over... my god in heaven, 41 pages on the team thread and we are not even in Australia... Let Newey cook, give Honda a chance, and let the first few races pass before declaring "it's over, we are done!" ...

the car is an MP4-18 for sure.

The internally nick named banana car, so flimsy was its chassis.

Edit: I'd love to provide a quote, but it was said by Pedro de la Rosa, who was McLaren test driver at the time, in an interview under paywall (DAZN), and not available anymore

Well, consider that that car was setting record times on a flying lap, but it couldn't cover a race distance. However, they presented a very fast car in 2003, they didn't win the title because on the other side there was a certain Michael Schumacher. While he was at Red Bull, the decision to move from Ferrari to Renault, if I remember correctly, was actually Newey's, so look at the impact he can have on a team and don't underestimate the individual. Remember that he sees the air, not in a physical sense, but like chess players who predict the next moves, he predicts the behavior of the air.

[Rikrikrik]

Outside of the fact that they have supplied F2 with sustainable fuel, I don't think this is anything more than Newey doing a sponsor/part owner(?) advert

Although they haven't developed fuels specifically for Formula 1, they already do so in a very similar category, and there's no denying they have more experience than those who have never done it before.

It's good experience to have, they will now just be pushing the mixtures for F1, they are crucial to the power units stable running. Honda has the lab and departments to develop some fuels in-house. The mixture used in previous power units was largely a mixture developed by Honda with ExxonMobil providing production and refining techniques and this development is what made their combustion technique stable. I'll have to find the Japanese article, they were fairly detailed.
Same with the engine oil, where they were using natural compounds usually found in the cosmetic industry. It was never confirmed but one of them was speculated pretty seriously to be Ambergris (or associated/similar compounds) which has some.. interesting properties.
Again, in that recent Japanese interview with Kakuda, he mentions they've been developing the fuel and lubricants together with Aramco for a while now, so it stands to reason they'd be passing a lot of this knowledge onto them. So it's not unreasonable to assume Aramco and Honda are probably the best combination, for the moment at least, to start with these new fuels, experience wise.
It's also comforting to know that at the Barcelona test, they were using the new fuels and validating the ICE with them.

They used the sustainable fuel during shakedown? anyone confirmed this? or is just a rumor?

[BassVirolla]

the car is an MP4-18 for sure.

The internally nick named banana car, so flimsy was its chassis.

Edit: I'd love to provide a quote, but it was said by Pedro de la Rosa, who was McLaren test driver at the time, in an interview under paywall (DAZN), and not available anymore

Well, consider that that car was setting record times on a flying lap, but it couldn't cover a race distance. However, they presented a very fast car in 2003, they didn't win the title because on the other side there was a certain Michael Schumacher. While he was at Red Bull, the decision to move from Ferrari to Renault, if I remember correctly, was actually Newey's, so look at the impact he can have on a team and don't underestimate the individual. Remember that he sees the air, not in a physical sense, but like chess players who predict the next moves, he predicts the behavior of the air.

Not possible to underestimate the individual with more championships under his belt.

But the story of MP4/18 sure was a good learning for him.

[FNTC]

Will there be a yellow stripe (or more yellow) on the green AMR26? A yellow hand and yellow strap sides on the Breitling "Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula ONE™ team" watch announced today.
https://www.breitling.com/us-en/watches ... 381A1B1X1/

[Waz]

I fully expect a fast but fragile car. It's how Newey always operates. Make it as fast as possible, and see what happens. Because you don't have any idea at first how unreliable it might be.

[FittingMechanics]

Will there be a yellow stripe (or more yellow) on the green AMR26? A yellow hand and yellow strap sides on the Breitling "Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula ONE™ team" watch announced today.
https://www.breitling.com/us-en/watches ... 381A1B1X1/
https://www-breitling.eu.saleor.cloud/m ... _2048.webp

These are light green/neon to my eyes.

Would help the livery if they used it as accent color.

[Otromundo]

I fully expect a fast but fragile car. It's how Newey always operates. Make it as fast as possible, and see what happens. Because you don't have any idea at first how unreliable it might be.

I agree. I also think that would be the most logical thing.

[diffuser]

I fully expect a fast but fragile car. It's how Newey always operates. Make it as fast as possible, and see what happens. Because you don't have any idea at first how unreliable it might be.

I agree. I also think that would be the most logical thing.

That's not what usually happens with a car that is too heavy.

[BassVirolla]

I fully expect a fast but fragile car. It's how Newey always operates. Make it as fast as possible, and see what happens. Because you don't have any idea at first how unreliable it might be.

I agree. I also think that would be the most logical thing.

That's not what usually happens with a car that is too heavy.

The overweight could come from a lack of optimization time.

You could have a part that dynamically / aerodynamically / whatever satisfies your needs, but you are in a tight timeframe. Put it as is, and you can start refining the design features that don't affect directly the function (i.e. calculate a bunch of holes, make a better fiber lay up, search for lighter materials, ...).

Not necessarily a heavier car has to be only to achieve strength targets, but for a lack of optimization.

[mzso]

I fully expect a fast but fragile car. It's how Newey always operates. Make it as fast as possible, and see what happens. Because you don't have any idea at first how unreliable it might be.

I don't think the 2022 car was fragile. It had some defects with the fuel system, hence the retirements at the start, but that's about it.

[auem123]

I am confident Honda will start slow and catch up by 3rd year only.

[Bill]

I am confident Honda will start slow and catch up by 3rd year only.

They is nothing new in these regulations no mguh to trip over any team.all pu manufacturers will do fine except audi

[zoroastar]

Jesus, so much negativity and scepticism here, you guys are truly and utterly cooked. Wait at least until the first race before all the doom and gloom takes over... my god in heaven, 41 pages on the team thread and we are not even in Australia... Let Newey cook, give Honda a chance, and let the first few races pass before declaring "it's over, we are done!" ...

yeah man, its depressing to look at the world through some peoples eyes haha. if i had one wish for the last 10 years for alonso (being a fan), it would have been for him to drive a newey designed car in a team with a budget. and here we are.

[zoroastar]

Although they haven't developed fuels specifically for Formula 1, they already do so in a very similar category, and there's no denying they have more experience than those who have never done it before.

It's good experience to have, they will now just be pushing the mixtures for F1, they are crucial to the power units stable running. Honda has the lab and departments to develop some fuels in-house. The mixture used in previous power units was largely a mixture developed by Honda with ExxonMobil providing production and refining techniques and this development is what made their combustion technique stable. I'll have to find the Japanese article, they were fairly detailed.
Same with the engine oil, where they were using natural compounds usually found in the cosmetic industry. It was never confirmed but one of them was speculated pretty seriously to be Ambergris (or associated/similar compounds) which has some.. interesting properties.
Again, in that recent Japanese interview with Kakuda, he mentions they've been developing the fuel and lubricants together with Aramco for a while now, so it stands to reason they'd be passing a lot of this knowledge onto them. So it's not unreasonable to assume Aramco and Honda are probably the best combination, for the moment at least, to start with these new fuels, experience wise.
It's also comforting to know that at the Barcelona test, they were using the new fuels and validating the ICE with them.

They used the sustainable fuel during shakedown? anyone confirmed this? or is just a rumor?

i heard that people think that they used a hybrid fuel that mixes traditional and sustainable.. and i heard that the only team that may have tested 100% sustainable was mclaren. BUT, its all heresay. nobody has said they know for certain.