2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[zoroastar]

Calm down, guys, it's still testing. Ted Kravitz and Lobato also said that Newey has already identified the problems and has a plan to fix them. Regarding the engine, It's not just a gear change problem, but improvements have already been seen from day 1 to day 3.

If the issue is with engine and gearbox, how is Newey 'planning' to fix them ? He is just going to ask the powertrain guys to debug and fix this. I don't understand the obsession of media with "thanos-like designer who can do everything from tightening a bolt to writing an ECU algorithm"

Newey is not just a 'Technical Designer' at AM; he is also an acting TP for the team. He is responsible for resource management to a certain degree. Whether he is good at it or not ; a different topic.
He must have discussed the issues with Honda & integration team to devise a plan to work on it.
There are lot of things that this team is doing it for first time. It’s going to take some time to bring it together.

im pretty sure he is talking about the fact that its being reported by lobato and ted kravitz that newey has found something in the aero that needs to be addressed and hes on it.. not that newey was planning to help honda haha

[zoroastar]

on another topic, i hope the racing doesnt actually suck anyway. judging by what alonso, verstappen and leclerc are saying, passing in the corners is a thing in the past now. only gonna get engineered passes on the straights because they cant push through the corners and keep their batteries charged anymore. i have a feeling the v10s are gonna be coming sooner rather than later. problem is, alonso prolly wont be a part of it. this shizz is stupid

[SealTheRealDeal]

on another topic, i hope the racing doesnt actually suck anyway. judging by what alonso, verstappen and leclerc are saying, passing in the corners is a thing in the past now. only gonna get engineered passes on the straights because they cant push through the corners and keep their batteries charged anymore. i have a feeling the v10s are gonna be coming sooner rather than later. problem is, alonso prolly wont be a part of it. this shizz is stupid

Has discussion switched back to V10s? I thought MBS had more or less settled on V8s + simplified Hybrids last year.

[CHT]

Guys,calm down! Aston used the 3 day test as others the shakedown. Ye Williams also not,but Mercedes have many teams with the same engine and gearbox, etcetera. Krack also said, they didn't even touched the car setup, settings or go for 1 lap.

Hypothetically if Honda PU issue cannot be fixed and the car doesnt meet that 107% qualifying time requirement, can AMR continue to race this season?

What makes you think Aston Martin will lose another 2 seconds to the leaders to even entertain this hypothetical?

This is a hypothetical question on technical regulation not a prediction.

[edu2703]

on another topic, i hope the racing doesnt actually suck anyway. judging by what alonso, verstappen and leclerc are saying, passing in the corners is a thing in the past now. only gonna get engineered passes on the straights because they cant push through the corners and keep their batteries charged anymore. i have a feeling the v10s are gonna be coming sooner rather than later. problem is, alonso prolly wont be a part of it. this shizz is stupid

It's highly unlikely the V10 will return to F1. The current discussion for the next regulation change revolves around a basic 2.4L naturally aspirated V8 and reduced electrification.

[Snorked]

Various pieces of information are flying around chaotically, but when I checked directly with Honda’s Orihara GM on-site, the reality turned out to be completely different from what’s being said.

He told me, “We haven’t yet run with the kind of (aggressive) cooling specification that would allow us to judge whether cooling is still too strict or not.”

Just like last year, it’s completely normal to change the cooling specification (the number of heat-exhaust louvers) depending on the conditions of that particular day and time. They also carried out comparison tests for that in Bahrain.

On top of that, right now the priority is simply running normally, so they are “currently running with a number of louvers that leaves plenty of margin.” They plan to test next week how high the temperatures will rise when using the more aggressive cooling specification.

Regarding the test content as well, they are still in the initial troubleshooting phase, so they already anticipated that some minor issues would appear. While 203 laps isn’t an enormous distance, they said they are carrying “quite a large number of measurement instruments and data collection is progressing reasonably well,” so they were able to cover at least the minimum required distance.

As for PU performance, energy management is important, but there are also huge demands coming from the drivers, so they are currently improving the simulation in preparation for next week.

Above all, his tone and atmosphere were exactly the same as the usual gentle and sincere Orihara-san — there wasn’t the slightest sense of desperation or gloom, and it felt completely different from all the rumors and speculation circulating in the world.

I was reminded once again that “information from the track” — paddock rumors and speculation — are, after all, just rumors and speculation, and the information obtained by actually “interviewing the people involved” is what really matters.

Oh, and while I’m saying all this in a very self-important way, I was actually just in Tokyo doing commentary for Fuji TV NEXT (lol). Ono-kun and Kattsu-san are the ones doing the on-site interviews.

https://x.com/m_yoneya/status/2022546654944198689?s=20

[Otromundo]

Various pieces of information are flying around chaotically, but when I checked directly with Honda’s Orihara GM on-site, the reality turned out to be completely different from what’s being said. He told me .../...
Oh, and while I’m saying all this in a very self-important way, I was actually just in Tokyo doing commentary for Fuji TV NEXT (lol). Ono-kun and Kattsu-san are the ones doing the on-site interviews.

https://x.com/m_yoneya/status/2022546654944198689?s=20

Thank you very much. I've been looking at the work of that Japanese journalist; I wasn't familiar with him. It's been quite a challenge because he writes in Japanese, of course. He seems to have been involved in F1 for a long time. I think he deserves some credibility.

There's a lot of background noise; F1 is trendy and they're promoting it even more. So I don't believe almost anything that's published. Especially now.

But what the Japanese journalist is doing sounds like good information. Real information. I'm sure there's more to it than just the cooling system, but it's good to have some references.

[Rikrikrik]

All articles, podcasts and whatever, looks, nothing is offical, its a "radio paddock" but everyone is mergin to gearbox. The gearbox is integrate to Honda's Engine is great, but any failure in gearbox, will be limited the engine, and the if the gearbox fails the batery doesnt charge, because the princial way to recharge is downshifts. Some people describe Aston with the best chassi and Honda like a young and fragile, but powerfull. The main problems would be cause by gearbox.

Honda apparently calm

Shintaro Orihara, trackside general manager for
@HondaRacingF1
has a plan

“We haven’t yet run with the kind of (aggressive) cooling specification that would allow us to judge whether cooling is still too strict or not.”

Just like last year, it’s completely normal to change the cooling specification (the number of heat-exhaust louvers) depending on the conditions of that particular day and time. They also carried out comparison tests for that in Bahrain.

On top of that, right now the priority is simply running normally, so they are “currently running with a number of louvers that leaves plenty of margin.” They plan to test next week how high the temperatures will rise when using the more aggressive cooling specification.

[diffuser]

All articles, podcasts and whatever, looks, nothing is offical, its a "radio paddock" but everyone is mergin to gearbox. The gearbox is integrate to Honda's Engine is great, but any failure in gearbox, will be limited the engine, and the if the gearbox fails the batery doesnt charge, because the princial way to recharge is downshifts. Some people describe Aston with the best chassi and Honda like a young and fragile, but powerfull. The main problems would be cause by gearbox.

Honda apparently calm

Shintaro Orihara, trackside general manager for
@HondaRacingF1
has a plan

“We haven’t yet run with the kind of (aggressive) cooling specification that would allow us to judge whether cooling is still too strict or not.”

Just like last year, it’s completely normal to change the cooling specification (the number of heat-exhaust louvers) depending on the conditions of that particular day and time. They also carried out comparison tests for that in Bahrain.

On top of that, right now the priority is simply running normally, so they are “currently running with a number of louvers that leaves plenty of margin.” They plan to test next week how high the temperatures will rise when using the more aggressive cooling specification.

Think the biggest quote there was "As for PU performance, energy management is important, but there are also huge demands coming from the drivers, so they are currently improving the simulation in preparation for next week."


That sounds like the software is behind because they didn't get enough laps in the first test.

Thxs @snorked

[auem123]

I will gladly take the gearbox problem over engine problem. Honda can help AM to fix it. It won't be too difficult.

[dr_cooke]

I guess it would be technically close to impossible but, would it be allowed by regulations if AMR went to, say, RBR and bought a gearbox?

[diffuser]

I guess it would be technically close to impossible but, would it be allowed by regulations if AMR went to, say, RBR and bought a gearbox?

#1 If I remember correctly the gearboxes are pretty much the same what changes is the casing the gearbox sits in. So it would be fairly easy.

#2 They did get a gearbox guy a while back... think it was the Merc gearbox designer. Went back through all the changes since Newey got hired and found him...Stuart Boulton started early March 2025. He'll get it worked out.

- Pablo Vázquez Fernández, Alpine (Lead Surface Designer) -> Aston Martin
- Andrew Sammut Alessi, Aston Martin (Head of Technical Operations) -> ?
- Ian Grieg Head of Aerodynamics (Aston Martin) -> Head of Aerodynamic Analysis and Technology (Red Bull)
- Robbie Stevens Head of Aero Science (Alpine) -> Head of Vehicle Science (Aston Martin)
- Emma McKay Stores Manager (Red Bull) -> Stores and Internal Logistics Manager (Aston Martin)
- Nick Roberts Senior Strategy Engineer (Racing Bulls) -> Senior Strategy Engineer (Aston Martin)
- Gilles Wood Fmr Red Bull Chief Engineer -> Simulation and Modelling Director (Aston Martin)
- Marco Fainello Fmr Ferrari Head of Performance -> Senior Consultant (Aston Martin)
- Fabrizio Pilotti Chief Information Officer (Mercedes HPP) -> Chief Information Officer (Aston Martin)
-Akio Haga Chief Designer (Aston Martin) ->OUT
- Eric Blandin Aerodynamics Director (Aston Martin) -> OUT
- Nick Roberts Senior Strategy Engineer, VC Racing Bulls -> Aston Martin (same position)
-Gioacchino Vino, Chief Aerodynamicist Mercedes -> Aston Martin F1 (Same Position).
-Mark Robinson (previous chief aerodynamicist) -> Aston Martin Performance Engineering
-Stuart Boulton Senior Transmission Design Engineer (Mercedes) -> Head of Transmission (Aston Martin).

[bigblue]

Interesting though, the engine and gearbox combo should have been thrashed on test benches. So is it realistic it really is the gearbox? Are vibrational loads that different on test and actually out on track? Actually do dynos run engines with gearboxes, and if so is it possible that pairing the two was done very late?

Edit: that's a question for the more knowledgeable people who frequent this forum

[zoroastar]

on another topic, i hope the racing doesnt actually suck anyway. judging by what alonso, verstappen and leclerc are saying, passing in the corners is a thing in the past now. only gonna get engineered passes on the straights because they cant push through the corners and keep their batteries charged anymore. i have a feeling the v10s are gonna be coming sooner rather than later. problem is, alonso prolly wont be a part of it. this shizz is stupid

It's highly unlikely the V10 will return to F1. The current discussion for the next regulation change revolves around a basic 2.4L naturally aspirated V8 and reduced electrification.

v10, v8, whatever, as long as we can have lighter race-able cars again.

[Otromundo]

on another topic, i hope the racing doesnt actually suck anyway. judging by what alonso, verstappen and leclerc are saying, passing in the corners is a thing in the past now. only gonna get engineered passes on the straights because they cant push through the corners and keep their batteries charged anymore. i have a feeling the v10s are gonna be coming sooner rather than later. problem is, alonso prolly wont be a part of it. this shizz is stupid

It's highly unlikely the V10 will return to F1. The current discussion for the next regulation change revolves around a basic 2.4L naturally aspirated V8 and reduced electrification.

v10, v8, whatever, as long as we can have lighter race-able cars again.

I don't think the new regulations will last long. Unless a miracle happens and the races become exciting, which I doubt.

I think a return to engines powered by biofuels would be the right thing to do.