2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[CHT]

Aramco F1

How good would it be if the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund bought the team and renamed it as Jordan F1 lol

In all seriousness though, I don’t see Stroll Sr walking away any time soon. Stroll Jr on the other hand…..

The other way to look at this is that AM has terminate their sponsorship deal with AMR to cut cost, which is around 25m per year in sponsorship to F1 team, while LS got the F1 team to pay 50m to AM for its naming rights.

For AM (car division), that is a damn good deal because
1) They dont need to pay AMR 25m per year and to give free cars to their drivers
2) AM still enjoying brand exposure in F1 because of the naming right
3) AM get 50m of cash injection in return.

Aston Martin cuts 20% of workforce as losses widen
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9m8n2vx0mo

There is no outstanding loans for AMR GP. The lost money over the last fewer years is the £200 Million they payed for the 3 new buildings. They will stop encouring those cost in tge next couple of years. I don't see any financial problems with AMR GP. The Aston Martin motor car company is different story and is only 25% owner by Yew Tree/LS.

AMR financial filing show that the team has £311,923,000 loan which will be due within 5-10 years and the company is paying £27,020,000 in interest for its borrowing. This team is heavily leverage using superficial valuation created by LS inter company transaction.

https://find-and-update.company-informa ... download=0

[edu2703]

Having to run two "dummy cars" that have the "wrong" components is costly in the budget cap. Also, PU problems are more costly in the 2026 budget cap scheme where reliability changes are no longer "Free".

So, AM will basically have to take out a calculator and figure out what costs more: the fines or the operating expenses at the Grand Prix and the impact on the budget cap.

We don't know how much the fine is for a team not showing up at a Grand Prix without a compelling reason, but I believe the amounts should be high enough to dissuade a team from even considering it, no matter how bad they are doing, like in most contracts in sporting events. The other part is having to talk to sponsors who paid to be exposed in the 24 races of the season and will obviously ask for compensation for the team withdrawing from Australia.

We'll see what decision Aston Martin will make, but I still believe the most sensible decision is to show up in Australia, even if they only do 3-4 installation laps in free pratice, followed by one push lap in qualifying with the engine severely limited and drivers lifting the throtle, certainly being bumped by the 107% rule and prevented from running in the race, but at least they can say they tried and it saves them from a large part of the fines.

[V10FURY]

Having to run two "dummy cars" that have the "wrong" components is costly in the budget cap. Also, PU problems are more costly in the 2026 budget cap scheme where reliability changes are no longer "Free".

So, AM will basically have to take out a calculator and figure out what costs more: the fines or the operating expenses at the Grand Prix and the impact on the budget cap.

We don't know how much the fine is for a team not showing up at a Grand Prix without a compelling reason, but I believe the amounts should be high enough to dissuade a team from even considering it, no matter how bad they are doing, like in most contracts in sporting events. The other part is having to talk to sponsors who paid to be exposed in the 24 races of the season and will obviously ask for compensation for the team withdrawing from Australia.

We'll see what decision Aston Martin will make, but I still believe the most sensible decision is to show up in Australia, even if they only do 3-4 installation laps in free pratice, followed by one push lap in qualifying with the engine severely limited and drivers lifting the throtle, certainly being bumped by the 107% rule and prevented from running in the race, but at least they can say they tried and it saves them from a large part of the fines.

I think this is exactly the minimum they will do unless major fixes are in place to the car. The fines will be many millions of dollars, plus the sponsorship reimbursements, and then the risk of the FIA sanctioning the team. They will attend next week for sure. I hope the team can run some laps and qualify for the race. I don’t expect them to finish it based on last week. 107% might be on the cards if Mercedes turns up that engine to 11….

[collindsilva]

With all the chatter ongoing, we know for sure that Honda is working 24/7 on the engine and battery side for better reliability and power, probably we should see something by race 3, what about the other components.

Engine + Battery - By Honda - some improvement by Aus or Race 3 or better engine by Race 8.
Gearbox - By AMR - No news until now
Chassis + Aero - By AMR - Improvements by Australia
Fuel - By Aramco - No news yet

[FW17]

It is very clear by the lack of a mule car for Honda is Newey and Aston Martin leadership hoping to hide behind Honda for they years failures.

[bluechris]

I think they will be ok in Aussie, not fast and without problems but not an embarrassment show. They need this for practicing time and in no way they can miss that.
It is what it is, let's hope after 3-4 races they will be in better position.

[venkyhere]

Honda pre-season issues:

2015 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 380 laps
2017 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 425 laps

2026 Aston Martin- Honda engine issues 399 Laps

the biggest difference being, this time it has happened with 'budget-cap' in force => cannot throw money at the problem (experimentation & testing).

[ispano6]

Honda pre-season issues:

2015 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 380 laps
2017 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 425 laps

2026 Aston Martin- Honda engine issues 399 Laps

the biggest difference being, this time it has happened with 'budget-cap' in force => cannot throw money at the problem (experimentation & testing).

Not really, there is no restrictive token system which was worse.

[ispano6]

Having to run two "dummy cars" that have the "wrong" components is costly in the budget cap. Also, PU problems are more costly in the 2026 budget cap scheme where reliability changes are no longer "Free".

So, AM will basically have to take out a calculator and figure out what costs more: the fines or the operating expenses at the Grand Prix and the impact on the budget cap.

We don't know how much the fine is for a team not showing up at a Grand Prix without a compelling reason, but I believe the amounts should be high enough to dissuade a team from even considering it, no matter how bad they are doing, like in most contracts in sporting events. The other part is having to talk to sponsors who paid to be exposed in the 24 races of the season and will obviously ask for compensation for the team withdrawing from Australia.

We'll see what decision Aston Martin will make, but I still believe the most sensible decision is to show up in Australia, even if they only do 3-4 installation laps in free pratice, followed by one push lap in qualifying with the engine severely limited and drivers lifting the throtle, certainly being bumped by the 107% rule and prevented from running in the race, but at least they can say they tried and it saves them from a large part of the fines.

You're talking absolute nonsense. They will be in Australia 100% for sure.

[sn809]

I have been following F1 Technical since 2020. I have faith in @ispano6. They will be in Australia for sure 100%. A new ICE spec is in the works which can charge the Battery faster. The only thing stopping it is it will have a PHAT AZZ and Newey does not want that.

[BassVirolla]

Honda pre-season issues:

2015 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 380 laps
2017 Mclaren-Honda engine issues: 425 laps

2026 Aston Martin- Honda engine issues 399 Laps

the biggest difference being, this time it has happened with 'budget-cap' in force => cannot throw money at the problem (experimentation & testing).

Not really, there is no restrictive token system which was worse.

In 2017 there was a full revamp of the engine, with the tokens withdrawal. And Alonso explained it greatly.

The engine feels good. Much slower than before.

What amounts to that having the resources and the allowance of the rulebook doesn't amount to being able to be competent.

[Badger]

Aramco F1

How good would it be if the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund bought the team and renamed it as Jordan F1 lol

In all seriousness though, I don’t see Stroll Sr walking away any time soon. Stroll Jr on the other hand…..

The other way to look at this is that AM has terminate their sponsorship deal with AMR to cut cost, which is around 25m per year in sponsorship to F1 team, while LS got the F1 team to pay 50m to AM for its naming rights.

For AM (car division), that is a damn good deal because
1) They dont need to pay AMR 25m per year and to give free cars to their drivers
2) AM still enjoying brand exposure in F1 because of the naming right
3) AM get 50m of cash injection in return.

Aston Martin cuts 20% of workforce as losses widen
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9m8n2vx0mo

There is no outstanding loans for AMR GP. The lost money over the last fewer years is the £200 Million they payed for the 3 new buildings. They will stop encouring those cost in tge next couple of years. I don't see any financial problems with AMR GP. The Aston Martin motor car company is different story and is only 25% owner by Yew Tree/LS.

Wdym there are no outstanding loans? The company has a negative book value (total assets - total liabilities) If you were to liquidate AMR GP you would not be able to repay all of their debt with the sold assets.

These investments into the team are financed largely with debt, and they will need a commensurate upturn in revenue to pay that debt down. But the increased revenue will only come if the team performs better, instead it has been performing worse every year since 2023, and now it looks quite disastrous in terms of performance.

[edu2703]

You're talking absolute nonsense. They will be in Australia 100% for sure.

How is that nonsense when in my previous comment, I literally said I see no strong reason for Aston Martin to skip the Australian GP, ​​while there are people here afraid the engine will break down in Australia and harm the team for the rest of the season, using that as an argument to skip Australia?

It's a risk all teams face, not just Aston Martin. Honda will probably bring some fixes or new parts in time for the Australian GP. If these improvements still don't bring enough reliability, the team can simply conduct a limited run over the weekend, even if it's just a few laps to confirm the team's participation in the Grand Prix weekend, even if the cars don't even line up for the race.

[FNTC]

Unless they miraculously get a working power unit in the next week, they will probably show up in Melbourne, treat it as a testing run and it will be a miracle if both cars finish the race, even if they try. But if qualy is a disaster they might just do a few laps of the race and retire too. We will see.

[Nikosar]

As they cancelled a filming day in Barcelona. Can they have a second chance to do it

Maybe prior to Australia ?