2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[selvam_e2002]

It's not about reinventing RBR at AMR but, learning what works at other teams and implementing it at AM.

RBR won 4 straight titles from 2010 to 2013 and 4 straight titles from 2021 to 2025, almost winning 5 straight. That's something Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have not done. Ferrari's last dynasty was under Michael Schumacher.

AM needs to learn what works from the top teams (Mercedes, RBR) and it looks like Stroll is recreating a RBR/Mercedes style operation at AM which is fine by me.

Adrian Newey
Andy Cowell
Jonathan Wheatley
Hopefully more to come

Like I said, we don't need him. You're not learning shiit. Copying isn't learning. There atleast 5 other drivers that could do the job when it comes time to get a driver. Right now you have 2 drivers and Alonso gets first digs at the 2nd seat for next year. As far as Max, you couldn't find a truck big enough to fill with money to convince Max to come over. So that's just a waste of energy. We don't even know how competitive we are when we turn up the wick on the motor.

It's up to Lawrence Stroll and Max Verstappen. If it was up to you there might not have been an Adrian Newey, Andy Cowell, Jonathan Wheatley or Honda engine at AM because that's "copying" Mercedes and RBR.

Copying is learning, these teams copy each other often, it's a copy cat league like most sports.

It's Mercedes that's in a great position now and if both of their drivers dominate the season and they finish 1 -2 in the driver's title and win the constructors title, then Mercedes is most likely going to resign both drivers.

Max could go to Ferrari only if Lewis retires or if they don't resign him but, it looks like there is a clause in Lewis' contract where it gives him unilateral rights to extend his contract through 2027. This Ferrari car is good now and Lewis looks like a top 3 driver and could possibly win the title this year.

This idea that Aston Martin has to keep bringing back Alonso every year is ridiculous for some sentimental reasons because it can set AM back years when Alonso will be 46 years old next year and Max will be 29 and at the height of his career. Max has another at least 10+ years ahead of him in racing and he's the best driver in F1. He set the fastest lap of the Australian race with a average car. AM should not lose the opportunity to land Max.


Aston Martin should try to copy Mercedes and Red Bull the two most dominate teams since 2010 and the only teams to win driver's titles since 2010 and Aston Martin should try to sign the greatest driver in F1 who's still in his 20's.

Lawrence Stroll IS copying Mercedes and RBR, look at who he's hiring and structuring his team.

After two races, there are people here saying Aston Martin should dump Honda and keep a 45 year old driver.

We don't need overrated driver in AMR. look at Max where he is with RB. where his talent went. it seems Like Vettel and Ric era... I don't see that he is adoptable driver. We don't need any first class driver if the car is good like Mercedes. 18 year old kid won the race with 1 year into F1. so if the car is good, even Tsunoda can win races....or Strol Jr.

[mzso]

F1unchained said the AMR26 has a massive upgrade for Japan. This is the car they were supposed to start the season with. Along with the attempted fix for the vibrations.

Not sure why they would bother with a large upgrade at Japan and not just wait until Miami to ensure as much work as possible was done to fix the current vibrations / power unit. The upgrade data is meaningless if they can’t even run the car for more than 10 laps at 75% speed. They should have run the Aston Martin car designed last year , before Newey arrived , for the first half of this season to let him have the extra time needed. Then introduce his car by round 9 as the big season upgrade to then tweak it further for a full run at the podiums in 2027. I think if they had done this plan then they would have figured out much sooner that the engine was a turd that needed major attention. They might be at Williams level already this season and actually finishing races.

If Aston has any fixed in place by the Japanese GP that make any significant difference to their current woes I will be pleasantly surprised. I think Miami is a more realistic timeline to get them finishing a full race distance with both cars , without them shaking apart. Will they be competitive in Miami? Probably only with Cadillac I think, and whichever car at Williams or the other teams has issues.

This year is a complete debacle so the team should solely focus on 2027 with Honda to make sure this is not a 3-4 year show for the team. If the engine is fundamentally flawed in design/ execution/harmonics/power/harvesting/and deployment it doesn’t matter what the chassis and aero team can come up with this season. Save the duckets for 2027 and make sure Honda are spending every single Yen on getting this engine package reliable, and powerful for 2027. Otherwise Jonathan Wheatleys first order of business as the new TP might be a call to his old boss at Audi to sign up for their engine packages for 2027. Probably a good idea if they can’t get on top of these issues at Honda by mid season, as Stroll SR is not going to wait years to turn this around.

#1 I think that this was scheduled a while ago. Big upgrades take 8-10 weeks. So the parts are ready.

#2 Miami is a sprint weekend, Japan is not.

#3 F1Unchained said there are vibration upgrades in the chassis.

#4 He also said, if it isn't fixed for Japan, it probably will not be until Silverstone. He also said that Honda will likely get the >4% behind bonus, will be allowed 2 ICE upgrades and exceed the CAP.

Why do we care what random youtubers said?

[ScottR267]

[Petebass]

I insist; as ALO, STR,Krack, Newey...said; vibrations are not the problem, lack of power is.
When vibrations dissapear, we will see AM fighting for 9th team, no more.
I do not hope anything important until 2027 (around 2%)

[diffuser]

i


It's not about reinventing RBR at AMR but, learning what works at other teams and implementing it at AM.

RBR won 4 straight titles from 2010 to 2013 and 4 straight titles from 2021 to 2025, almost winning 5 straight. That's something Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have not done. Ferrari's last dynasty was under Michael Schumacher.

AM needs to learn what works from the top teams (Mercedes, RBR) and it looks like Stroll is recreating a RBR/Mercedes style operation at AM which is fine by me.

Adrian Newey
Andy Cowell
Jonathan Wheatley
Hopefully more to come

Like I said, we don't need him. You're not learning shiit. Copying isn't learning. There atleast 5 other drivers that could do the job when it comes time to get a driver. Right now you have 2 drivers and Alonso gets first digs at the 2nd seat for next year. As far as Max, you couldn't find a truck big enough to fill with money to convince Max to come over. So that's just a waste of energy. We don't even know how competitive we are when we turn up the wick on the motor.

It's up to Lawrence Stroll and Max Verstappen. If it was up to you there might not have been an Adrian Newey, Andy Cowell, Jonathan Wheatley or Honda engine at AM because that's "copying" Mercedes and RBR.

Copying is learning, these teams copy each other often, it's a copy cat league like most sports.

It's Mercedes that's in a great position now and if both of their drivers dominate the season and they finish 1 -2 in the driver's title and win the constructors title, then Mercedes is most likely going to resign both drivers.

Max could go to Ferrari only if Lewis retires or if they don't resign him but, it looks like there is a clause in Lewis' contract where it gives him unilateral rights to extend his contract through 2027. This Ferrari car is good now and Lewis looks like a top 3 driver and could possibly win the title this year.

This idea that Aston Martin has to keep bringing back Alonso every year is ridiculous for some sentimental reasons because it can set AM back years when Alonso will be 46 years old next year and Max will be 29 and at the height of his career. Max has another at least 10+ years ahead of him in racing and he's the best driver in F1. He set the fastest lap of the Australian race with a average car. AM should not lose the opportunity to land Max.


Aston Martin should try to copy Mercedes and Red Bull the two most dominate teams since 2010 and the only teams to win driver's titles since 2010 and Aston Martin should try to sign the greatest driver in F1 who's still in his 20's.

Lawrence Stroll IS copying Mercedes and RBR, look at who he's hiring and structuring his team.

After two races, there are people here saying Aston Martin should dump Honda and keep a 45 year old driver.

I never said that hiring those guys was copying.

We didn’t hire those guys to do the same job they did in their previous roles. Cowell is leveraging his experience from Mercedes, but he was hired as CEO. He’s not the head of a power unit manufacturer—the job he left because he was tired of doing it. Instead, he’s using his power unit knowledge to handle integration. It isn’t the same job, and we don’t know whether he’s stuck in that role or if he’s there temporarily to help build up the department before moving on to something else.

There isn’t anything you can learn from Max that he can teach. Max doesn’t offer anything that Sainz, Hamilton, Larson, or Gasly don’t already bring.

Anyways....My main point is we have 2 drivers signed for this year and likely have 2 drivers for next year, Lawrence has clearly said that Alonso has the seat if he wants it. So I don't see the point of looking at Max. Especially since we're not yet competitive enough to even get on Max's radar.

[madridista]

After two races, there are people here saying Aston Martin should dump Honda and keep a 45 year old driver.

I totally agree, Honda has done a great job, it is clearly Alonso who is just too slow. I dont even understand why people criticize Honda, they are easily atleast in the top 5 of f1 engine manufacturers right now.

[diffuser]

After two races, there are people here saying Aston Martin should dump Honda and keep a 45 year old driver.

I totally agree, Honda has done a great job, it is clearly Alonso who is just too slow. I dont even understand why people criticize Honda, they are easily atleast in the top 5 of f1 engine manufacturers right now.

RoFL

[TyreSlip]

After two races, there are people here saying Aston Martin should dump Honda and keep a 45 year old driver.

I totally agree, Honda has done a great job, it is clearly Alonso who is just too slow. I dont even understand why people criticize Honda, they are easily atleast in the top 5 of f1 engine manufacturers right now.

RoFL

Renault's 2026 PU, which stopped development 18 months ago, would probably put Honda inside the top 10 of engine manufacturers if ran today!

[Badger]

Two things can be true at the same time. Honda has done an awful job, and AMR really need to start thinking about its driver situation.

[diffuser]

Two things can be true at the same time. Honda has done an awful job, and AMR really need to start thinking about its driver situation.

The driver situation is so fluid that it isn't something you just start thinking about. You don't know who is gonna be available when you need to hire.

[Badger]

Two things can be true at the same time. Honda has done an awful job, and AMR really need to start thinking about its driver situation.

The driver situation is so fluid that it isn't something you just start thinking about. You don't know who is gonna be available when you need to hire.

Nah, they need to be actively hunting. They also need to look at their current contract situation and make sure that whenever a premium driver is open for an offer they are available.

[gshevlin]

From what I have read, a number of drivers have get-out clauses in their contracts after 2026 if their teams perform poorly this year.

[ElliotDelgado]

I insist; as ALO, STR,Krack, Newey...said; vibrations are not the problem, lack of power is.
When vibrations dissapear, we will see AM fighting for 9th team, no more.
I do not hope anything important until 2027 (around 2%)

I have read similar things but the context i have seen was that they can't run the engine at its full potencial (full power) because of these vibrations, from what i have read the vibrations come from the ICE if that is accurate it would make sense they restrict the power on it to avoid damage, also I think they were still figuring out the drivability on the last race, again with less power available that changes constantly.

I think once the vibrations are reduced enough and they can use the engine at it's full potential we'll see how the car really works, right now it's not really possible to say, in this video of B Sport he says that they have not run at full power either, lets see if the Japan fixes work enough and they can push the car harder.

Video:

[V10FURY]

Drivers are nothing that even needs to be discussed this year, until Lance Stroll retires from F1, as his father will never fire him. Or BYD might just buy the team and puts 2 Chinese drivers in the cars. Otherwise it will be Alonso/ Stroll again next season, or Tsunoda/Stroll if Alonso has had enough of this crap. Honda wants a Japanese driver so Yuki makes the most sense for now. No top driver will want to go to this train wreck next season , but 2028 might be possible if they can turn it around in 2027. Alonso even at age 45 is in the top 5 drivers on the grid , neither Max or Leclerc would make this bucket of bolts go any faster.

Fix the car, engine, chassis, aero and management team first, and then see if Aston can make a competitive leap for next season. I expect them to at least occasionally score a point by the very end of this season and finish 9th or 10th in the constructor standings. If Williams stays horrible throughout the year then they might have a shot at beating them and Cadillac. Or perhaps that might be wishful thinking based on Aston’s current situation. Cadillac picked up 2 seconds of lap time from Australia to China. Let’s see if they continue to improve over the year as they might end up a bit better than pundits predicted. I think both Bottas and Perez are a bit rusty and need to improve their performances as well.

Miami is the race I expect to see Aston make a step forward to get closer to the mid pack. If they can unlock more performance and reliability from Honda , then the chassis fine tuning and upgrades should get them closer to Williams. I certainly hope so.

[erikejw]

Horners gardening leave are rumoured for april 2026, possibly 9 months.

Newey said early he'll temporarily take on the team principal role for 6 races. Meaning including Miami for the original race schedule.

The facts above might be inaccurate but let's assume they're not.

Meaning someone are supposed to join at that time frame, about Miami.

It's also painfully obvious that AM needs a politically savvy team principal/CEO, capable of keeping strong egos in check and get them running in the same direction.

That AN stepped down early might he a gesture towards Honda. The press conference was unacceptable from a Japanese perspective and they need to work together and not project blame(obviously Honda hadn't performed but AM needed to pick up that ball earlier too).

Too many tech savvy high performing F1 personal don't understand when they need to stop aspiring to higher positions, just because you are world class in one area doesn't mean you should be head of something or team principal(not about Adrian) etc.

Then in that role they meddle with what they know and dont execute in their actual role.

Wheatley is most likely not the answer. Why hire someone never been in the role of their are capable reputable former TPs. Maybe as a TP if Horner is CEO.

Horner fits perfect with all known facts for TP/CEO. He might also contribute to letting Stroll be more of a Matechits when the structure and organisation is more solid.

Yes Horner wants to be a partner. Then give him at least a bone in a performance clause. If AM wins the driver and team championships he's earned the right to buy a predefined percentage for a predefined amount.

Let's see how it all pans out.