2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[PlatinumZealot]

Newey is not going until he satisfactorily completes his project at AM. A race winning team.

Saying that... Gawd was sprint qualy embarrasing!

Lawrence Stroll strategy for AMR is to borrow money and spend big in building world class facilities, wind tunnel, hire a WDC along side his son, an exclusive winning engine supplier, the best F1 designer to take advantage of regulation change and wait for winning outcome.

This has proven to be a massive disappointment and the mounting debt repayment for AMR is going to add even more pressure to the team to deliver quick success.

The next round of technical regulation change will be 2030, which mean by 2029, almost all teams expect those still fighting for 2029 championship, will switch to new car development. For AMR, missing out on 2026 completely is a disaster, making a very hard for AMR to recover. And for a team with championship ambition, AMR will likely to start on 2030 cars in 2028. So 2027 is perhaps the only year which AMR can really turn things around.

As we can see, the current F1 grid is really competitive, with Ferrari, Merc, Mclaren RBR, and very soon Audi I think, to be competing at the front. And the only way for AMR to do it better than the rest is if Honda can deliver something exceptional that is exclusive to AMR only.

Newey is 67 this year, perhaps the oldest full time technical director on the grid right now. Can AN still continue this role for 2030 regulation? I honestly doubt so unless AMR is already winning.

It's too early to call it a disaster. Thingsctake time. It's only the first year. See Mclaren.. 2022 to 2024.

[PlatinumZealot]

Honda has been a bit of a disappointment so far. Not saying it to stoke infighting or anything, at all, and they may very well improve but just the cold truth right now. Not really delivering what was expected compared to the chassis. Both ALO and STR (and even SAI) saying on the chassis side they are good but are lacking on the straights, so it's the weakest link atm.

These chassis have too much complexity to jump to that concousion. Look at Williams with the best PU in the field. Absolute crap of a chassis and energy management. I say give Aston and Honda a few more races to improve. They should really be judged after the final upgrsdes of the season to be fair.

[etusch]

If you're not expecting Aston to win the race instantly, they went from being 4 seconds behind in qualifying to just 1 second.
Of course, everyone's times are getting closer because things are falling into place. So, the improvement is clear. Everyone should have noticed that by now. Gaining positions depends on the others as well. It's not about fighting against a stationary target.
Besides all this, the race pace they will show tomorrow and in a few races when they understand the engine better is also important, and we haven't seen that yet.

[Ashwinv16]

Honda has been a bit of a disappointment so far. Not saying it to stoke infighting or anything, at all, and they may very well improve but just the cold truth right now. Not really delivering what was expected compared to the chassis. Both ALO and STR (and even SAI) saying on the chassis side they are good but are lacking on the straights, so it's the weakest link atm.

These chassis have too much complexity to jump to that concousion. Look at Williams with the best PU in the field. Absolute crap of a chassis and energy management. I say give Aston and Honda a few more races to improve. They should really be judged after the final upgrades of the season to be fair.

To add to this Aston Martin suffered a bit of an issue in qualifying. The extra power form the engine is still causing issues, Alonso's fastest lap had him lift of before the start finish line to not exceed the 7.5Mj for quali. Cause the extra power from the engine recharged the battery more than it needed, losing him 1-2 tenths. In the race the deployment is there. Cause They can use 8. However data shows only 10hp gain when on power but 30-50hp on recharge thus the drivability issues. The biggest worry is Stroll. There is nearly 1 second pace difference between him and Alonso so what ever happens Alonso has to ensure he stays ahead of Stroll for the race.

[Ashwinv16]

If you're not expecting Aston to win the race instantly, they went from being 4 seconds behind in qualifying to just 1 second.
Of course, everyone's times are getting closer because things are falling into place. So, the improvement is clear. Everyone should have noticed that by now. Gaining positions depends on the others as well. It's not about fighting against a stationary target.
Besides all this, the race pace they will show tomorrow and in a few races when they understand the engine better is also important, and we haven't seen that yet.

They can find another 1 second with the current package based on FP1 results. Car is down to +10hp with the upgraded engine to help drivability. It's likely gonna run 30hp for the race in Monza so let's see.

[F1RAM]

Reading both the drivers comments it doesn't look like they are holding down on engine power. So May be 2-3 tenths more can be extracted by improving drivability and software.

How did you jump to that conclusion?? They are clearly pointing to handling issues that doesn't mean they are at full power.

[SSJ4]

Stroll said drivability and power felt the same. No improvement

[F1RAM]

If you're not expecting Aston to win the race instantly, they went from being 4 seconds behind in qualifying to just 1 second.
Of course, everyone's times are getting closer because things are falling into place. So, the improvement is clear. Everyone should have noticed that by now. Gaining positions depends on the others as well. It's not about fighting against a stationary target.
Besides all this, the race pace they will show tomorrow and in a few races when they understand the engine better is also important, and we haven't seen that yet.

Complete wrong assessment.. times were closer here compared to Hungary or as you said 4sec Spa. You have to look at where they finished in the same competitive session as others in equal conditions. Williams were clearly behind Astons in Hungary, but now they are ahead. So does that mean Astons regressed or what.

[F1RAM]

Stroll said drivability and power felt the same. No improvement

Yes..as compared to the FP, SQ n Sprint.

[KimiRai]

Turn 13 acceleration to main straight is atrocious.

[V10FURY]

It looked like the race pace was fairly decent from Alonso in clean air, and he managed to get onto the back of Stroll quickly, but then got stuck there, as it is difficult to pass at Zandvoort. It looks like the team still have some learning to do on strategy yet again, as not getting Alonso in a good window for race qualifying probably cost him 3 or 4 places. 14th should have been possible, I think, based on the pace the car has shown so far. That's still not good enough, of course, and Honda need to unlock all of the extra 30 hp, if they have it, in the race to help with overtaking. I hope Alonso can get a flier of a start and move up 3 positions off the line, and then maintain that. Monza will be a tough weekend for the team, and I expect them to be struggling to beat Cadillac with the Honda power deficit.

[diffuser]

I don't believe them. Besides, the gap dropping to 1 second in qualifying is a huge improvement in two races. I think they're using all of it. If they had half or 10 hp, as they say, they would be at the top.

You don't believe who? Honda never said publicly how much power they were gonna have. To me it just makes sense that without compression sensors, you gonna be conservative on turning up the power. That's a guess though.
They also said the didn't update the software. So this is another place they can have gains.

What was obvious was that Alonso was always using 8th gear. None of this stopping at 7th. Considering how short that straight is that is something.

That 3ird sector was a problem for Alonso. He hit 11 fine but getting traction out of turns 12 and 13 was a painful. Better than the Sprint but problematic the same.

[diffuser]

Turn 13 acceleration to main straight is atrocious.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQWEOXoWYAA ... name=large

Agreed, it's a setup or suspension thing though, not the PU.

[KimiRai]

Turn 13 acceleration to main straight is atrocious.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQWEOXoWYAA ... name=large

Agreed, it's a setup or suspension thing though, not the PU.

Highly disagree. Please have a look at telemetry. Where do you see mechanical grip being bad?

[SSJ4]

Seems the same as FP1 I remember he maxed out at 294kmh. Gasly was at 314kmh and lindblad was 308kmh iirc. On the long curve and straight