2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[SSJ4]

Alonso also threw his gloves after he got out of the car. Gonna be back markers at the beginning

[F1doc]

https://www-marca-com.translate.goog/mo ... e_vignette

gosh, is this real?

I suspect not. Stroll doesn't say that much in his interviews.

[dr_cooke]

https://www-marca-com.translate.goog/mo ... e_vignette

gosh, is this real?

That would qualify for immediate sacking unless you are multiple times WDC and/or your surname is the same as the team's owner.

[Badger]

https://www-marca-com.translate.goog/mo ... e_vignette

Have you learned anything about the car's potential or performance?

"I'm still learning about the car and the engine. We have a lot of work to do. We have less experience because of Barcelona and everything we've lost (due to yesterday's engine failure). We have to keep pushing."

Is it frustrating not being where you want to be?

"It is what it is. We're focused on where we are and what we can improve. We have to keep pushing, and that's what we can do."

A car far from its potential?

"Time will tell how much performance we can extract from it. Right now, we have the problems we have. We're trying to improve every round and every day. We'll see how much more we can get out of the car."

Where are these problems coming from? Is the engine too fragile?

"It's a combination of things. The engine, the balance, the grip. It's not just one thing, it's a combination."

"Does it also come from the engine balance?"

"Yes, there's some truth to that. Right now, he's not reacting very well, that's for sure."

Is it just a case of low mileage?

"Time will tell."

Have you discovered any positive cases so far?

It's sunny here, better than in Great Britain.

Anything positive about the car?

The decor is nice.

Is it in line with expectations for this week?

"We are where we are and we have the problems we have. We continue to move forward and try to get more performance out of the engine, from the car. And we'll see where we get in Australia in the first race and how we can develop from there."

Are you confident that you have Honda and Adrian behind you?

"Yes, absolutely. We have all the tools to fight to win the race and the championships. If we're not doing that right now, we need to think about what we can do better."

Have you received any information from Adrian regarding the direction of his development?

"We haven't talked about it too much. We're focused on where we are now, on the problems we have, on the things we need to work on. And, as I said, time will tell where we are in the first race in Australia and how we progress throughout the season."

And the rivals?

"They look very good, yes, of course. I think all these discussions are very difficult. Working to find out how much fuel people have, what the performance level is, how the engines are running. I think the only time we'll know that is at the first race in Australia."

Is there anything you can learn as a driver from the outside, by watching the other cars?

"No, not really, because at the end of the day, if some cars are four seconds faster than other cars, there's not much to learn. It's more the difference in grip and performance."

What difference could it make for you to reach Melbourne if this test and the next one go well?

"I don't know. Right now it looks like we're four seconds behind the top team, four and a half seconds. It's impossible to know how much fuel people have, but now we have to try to find four seconds of performance."

What does Newey say about the situation?

"It's all about performance, working on the car's performance. He's obsessed with how we can get more out of the car and he's a great leader overall. Trying to get the most out of everyone in their individual positions, it's inspiring to be a part of that and a privilege to work alongside him."

Do you see that it can be achieved ?

"The team has been very open during the winter saying that the ingredients are there, but it's a long-term project. Adrian started a little late because of his own feeling."

Is this a negative shock or did you expect it?

"I don't have an emotional reaction. We are where we are. Do we want to fight to win the race? Yes. Are we fighting to win the race today? It doesn't look like it. Does that mean we can fight to win the race in the future? No, I don't think we can. I don't have a crystal ball. I didn't have a crystal ball before the season started. We are where we are today."

Could that change in the coming months?

"I don't know, I don't have the answer to those questions. All I can say is that we're fighting as hard as we can. We're focused on bringing performance to the car, to the engine, every second of every day. Time will tell how competitive we are in the first race and throughout the season."

Wow.

[auem123]

Alonso also threw his gloves after he got out of the car. Gonna be back markers at the beginning

Source of Alonso throwing his gloves?

[Chubbs]

https://www-marca-com.translate.goog/mo ... e_vignette

Have you learned anything about the car's potential or performance?

"I'm still learning about the car and the engine. We have a lot of work to do. We have less experience because of Barcelona and everything we've lost (due to yesterday's engine failure). We have to keep pushing."

Is it frustrating not being where you want to be?

[...]

Who is this quoted from?

[Badger]

https://www-marca-com.translate.goog/mo ... e_vignette

Have you learned anything about the car's potential or performance?

"I'm still learning about the car and the engine. We have a lot of work to do. We have less experience because of Barcelona and everything we've lost (due to yesterday's engine failure). We have to keep pushing."

Is it frustrating not being where you want to be?

[...]

Who is this quoted from?

$troll.

[Nicktendo86]

The race are reporting those stroll comments too, they’re real.

[dren]

I mean they were kind of tampering expectations so this is to be expected. I don't think they'll be anywhere near 4sec off the pace come the first race.

[Real PJ's Beard]

They might not be 4 seconds off the pace but it's a damning statement to come out with in pre-season. There's sandbagging "work to be done" lines and then there's that

[DGP123]

Unfortunately, it’s looking like a total write off 26’. Honda’s issues are real, and with Newey still cleaning house, it looks like another dire year. Someone needs to put Alonso out of his misery.

[Farnborough]

This is not politics to be honest. They haven't set a single lap where the engine was pushed yet, while other teams are experimenting with deployment maps. And if they actually did push and that's how much it gave, then that's an absolute disaster. These posts that make calculations with rpms are complete nonsense as well. rpm and top speed are not correlated 1:1 and gearing is very important. In any case, just because you gained 10 kmh from 10500 to 11000 that doesn't mean you get another 10 kmh from 11000 to 11500.

Funnily enough, that is how gearing works.

If, for example, you chose 7th gear, then each increase of 500 rpm input will give the same gain in road speed, obviating for any tyre circumference expansion at highest rotation and load.

As example, ordinary transmission are often described for top gear as perhaps 30mph per 1000rpm. Meaning, 3000rpm will give 90mph speed.

Yes, in a single fixed gear with everything else constant, speed scales linearly with RPM, that's basic gearing, and your 30 mph/1,000 RPM example holds. But that's not how it will happen in reality because we don't live in a perfect vacuum with spherical chicken. You get slip losses, tyre expansion, clutch/drivetrain losses and finally, you don't even know if the power unit can deliver the rpms you're extrapolating to.

Yes it is.

You appear to be confusing efficiency losses with the reality of ratios within a gear train, which are fixed through their design and not variable. As sure as night follows day the tooth count on a single gear will remain the same for each and every rotation. Along with its next in line of transmission. The crankshaft, in using a chosen ratio with be inextricably linked to the number of rotation in the final output shaft to each wheel.

Where are the "slip" losses ? Identified in a way that changes the ratio along a gearset ? Efficiency, yes. Ratio, no.

[Leon Kennedy]

Good question. I don't think that Honda started "from zero" on this engine. From what I can gather, there was at least some staff leftover from the pre-2021 team but also there are significant additions or changes compared to that era. For example, I believe the Honda PU team is spread a lot further than just Japan. At the very least, I know that there is some involvement from the former HPD (now HRC US) team in North America. How much is unknown, but this was confirmed by Honda in 2023.

https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/re ... a-launches

The link is mostly PR drivel, but states "HRC’s auto racing development center in Japan currently supports Red Bull Powertrains, and is a vital part of the team’s F1 World Championship victories. Starting in 2026, HRC will partner with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 team as the team’s official engine supplier. With three F1 races now in the U.S., the new HRC US will be involved in Formula One power unit development and race support starting in 2026."

I don't have any critical insider knowledge, other than knowing someone who works with HRC US on some of their American programs. From what I was told, there is a main Honda team that worked on the Red Bull engines until the engine freeze. Then, when Honda "pulled out" at least some of that team was offloaded onto things like the Acura/Honda LMDh project/next-gen IndyCar engine/hybrid project for a while. But they have since been put back on the F1 development team since the Aston partnership came about. Additionally, there is a contribution from the American side to at least some extent that was not there in the Red Bull era.

Like I said, I don't know to what extent this American team contributes, if it is a handful of people or a full-scale operation, but at least qualitatively I feel pretty confident in saying that the Honda PU in the AMR26 is produced by some amalgamation of the pre-2021 team and some of Honda's other internal divisions.

This is very interesting, the fact that some of the staff remained before the engine freeze reassures me.As you said, the engineers from the US team are probably experts in the hybrid used in IndyCar, in fact in recent statements Honda did not seem to have problems with the electric motor but with the ICE. M I still have doubts about whether they were able to use the 2021 engine data and how many staff have migrated to Redbull and who above all.

The Indycar hybrid system is admittedly quite different so I’m not sure there’s that much carryover. But my point is that, although definitely diluted a bit, there should be at least some Honda personnel with previous F1 experience from pre-2021.

Their biggest problem is time. Everyone knows they started late. In 2015 they started late, with zero knowledge, *and* entered early.

This time they at least aren’t starting from absolute zero and they aren’t entering a year earlier than expected, but they are still behind.

If I had to say what we should expect from Honda this year I would put it at roughly 2016-levels of relative performance. Not as horrific as 2015 and 2017 but still a way off. That’s just my own opinion, not anything I’ve heard or anything.

No, but wait, they didn't start late, they've been working on this engine since 2023. There were already rumors that they hadn't spent the maximum Cup budget between 23rd and 24th. Other rumours said that they had not done so because the engine regulations became clearer from the start of 2025. However, the fact that they had problems with the ICE, It dates back to some statements made during the start of the 25th that some of you will remember "it's all very difficult" I've been carrying this phrase with me for over a year. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arti ... anslation/
However, they stated during the presentation in January that the electric motor is on time and that they even wanted to extract a small advantage over rivals, while the ICE it wasn't in line with the times. And here we are, guys. I certainly wasn't expecting 4 seconds from the others.

[Leon Kennedy]

I mean they were kind of tampering expectations so this is to be expected. I don't think they'll be anywhere near 4sec off the pace come the first race.

This time, however, we weren't the ones who were too optimistic; there are statements saying they already wanted to win the 2026 World Championship. https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-ho ... /10599520/
So now the criticisms that come will be fair and constructive.

[Seanspeed]

The race are reporting those stroll comments too, they’re real.

The Race will report on anything. And sorry, but F1 press is really bad about professionalism in confirming sources before reporting things that somebody else has reported. It does seem strange for Marca to have gotten some exclusive and fairly candid and extended interview with Stroll.