2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[Nikosar]

Given that they are not progressing, I believe a "return to normal" meaning finishing races and scoring some points will now likely be for the last 4 or 5 races.

I don't believe anything will happen before summer break. Then maybe they could start their season properly

Only if the others team fail to bring effective upgrades. There 11 teams that are already working on upgrades while Aston/Honda still working reliability

[Otromundo]

Well, I still think the ICE isn't the main culprit for the excessive vibrations. I believe the chassis rigidity, the ICE mounts, or both; the rear suspension mounts and/or the gearbox, or the MGU-K mounting are the prime suspects.

I don't think my assumptions are brilliant; they're simply the biggest differences between the AMR26 and the other cars. That's why I suspect that some of them, or perhaps the interaction of several of them, are the cause.

[Rikrikrik]

Well, I still think the ICE isn't the main culprit for the excessive vibrations. I believe the chassis rigidity, the ICE mounts, or both; the rear suspension mounts and/or the gearbox, or the MGU-K mounting are the prime suspects.

I don't think my assumptions are brilliant; they're simply the biggest differences between the AMR26 and the other cars. That's why I suspect that some of them, or perhaps the interaction of several of them, are the cause.

Honestly? They're going to have to throw everything away and start all over again – car, gearbox, and engine, its my opinion – and until then, they'll be the last team on the grid, who, with a bit of luck, might even finish a race.

[FNTC]

I wish they would just crank the PU up to 100% and see what happens, but they probably would rather try to finish the race at the back, than to risk spectacular failure in Japan.

[AR3-GP]

But Stroll himself, speaking today at the end of a difficult day, did not hide other critical issues. "Some sections of this track accentuate our weak points, our car doesn't like the high-speed sections very much. I think it's a combination of balance and downforce."

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-as ... /10808611/

[Otromundo]

Well, I still think the ICE isn't the main culprit for the excessive vibrations. I believe the chassis rigidity, the ICE mounts, or both; the rear suspension mounts and/or the gearbox, or the MGU-K mounting are the prime suspects.

I don't think my assumptions are brilliant; they're simply the biggest differences between the AMR26 and the other cars. That's why I suspect that some of them, or perhaps the interaction of several of them, are the cause.

Honestly? They're going to have to throw everything away and start all over again – car, gearbox, and engine, its my opinion – and until then, they'll be the last team on the grid, who, with a bit of luck, might even finish a race.

I'm very sorry, but that's how I see it.

[Jambier]

Yes the issue is that even if this car had great potential, they cannot develop it this year.
Hence they will probably switch to 2027 car, but without having learn anything from this one...

At least, on engine side they are learning, will use ADUO etc.. to have a proper engine for 2027, but here again it mean that they will be almost a year late compare to others

[diffuser]

Well, I still think the ICE isn't the main culprit for the excessive vibrations. I believe the chassis rigidity, the ICE mounts, or both; the rear suspension mounts and/or the gearbox, or the MGU-K mounting are the prime suspects.

I don't think my assumptions are brilliant; they're simply the biggest differences between the AMR26 and the other cars. That's why I suspect that some of them, or perhaps the interaction of several of them, are the cause.

Honestly? They're going to have to throw everything away and start all over again – car, gearbox, and engine, its my opinion – and until then, they'll be the last team on the grid, who, with a bit of luck, might even finish a race.

I'm very sorry, but that's how I see it.

I'm not sure where people get this idea that if you start over you're NOT gonna have the same problems. You need to find out WHY it is happening. If you don't know why it is happening, starting over will like bring the same vibrations. It is simple as that.

If you drive to work with you car and 1 day you break your suspension cause you hit a hole, if you don't realize you hit a hole. If nobody fixes the hole, you don't avoid the hole or change route, you'll just gonna break the suspension again.

[vorticism]

As is often pointed out, it took four years for RBR to become a top team. We are in year one of Newey at AMR. I was half expecting quicker turnaround, owing to AMR’s budget and supposedly excellent facilities. That said, RBR started during a stable engine formula, with engines from an established engine makers, at a time when the engine formula was much simpler and provided engine parity.

If Honda really do use motorsport as a proving-ground for junior engineers, that would explain why they’re starting from scratch again. Nothing wrong with that, it makes sense from a certain perspective. Motorsport is optional and not always profitable. So they use it as a university and not so much as an advertisement. Whether or not AMR were aware of this, is a question. Newey suggested they werent’ aware of this, although maybe they did and that was just Newey saving face. If AMR see their rejuvination as taking several years, then they might actually have been okay with Honda starting from scratch again.

How could AMR have assessed in either case? They observe facilites? Sure. They observe preliminary results? Sure. They audit/assess the staffing? I doubt that.

In any case, what choice did AMR have?

Ferrari: an Aston Martin Ferrari would have been a conflict of interest even moreso than an Aston Martin Honda or a Cadillac Ferrari?
RBPT: I suppose the entire point of RBPT was to keep everything in-house to avoid repeating a 2014 scenario, thus leaving no interesting in selling engines to outsiders. Any other reasons?
Mercedes: seems like it would have been a no-brainer, they were already a supplier to AMR; are AMR saving money with Honda’s offer? If so, does that not explain everything?
Audi: what would have stopped this? Might have made sense in terms of marketing. AM road cars have used Mercedes engines and could also use Audi engines to good effect.

I think AMR will go back to Merc eventually. AML is partly own by Merc.

Were they paired with Honda before or after Newey was signed? Also, it makes me wonder if the Honda made a considerably lower offer than Mercedes did, for supplying power units this year.

[Otromundo]

Honestly? They're going to have to throw everything away and start all over again – car, gearbox, and engine, its my opinion – and until then, they'll be the last team on the grid, who, with a bit of luck, might even finish a race.

I'm very sorry, but that's how I see it.

I'm not sure where people get this idea that if you start over you're NOT gonna have the same problems. You need to find out WHY it is happening. If you don't know why it is happening, starting over will like bring the same vibrations. It is simple as that.

If you drive to work with you car and 1 day you break your suspension cause you hit a hole, if you don't realize you hit a hole. If nobody fixes the hole, you don't avoid the hole or change route, you'll just gonna break the suspension again.

Obviously, before making drastic changes, they need to understand the reason. The car's design is radical, with notable differences compared to other cars. And the team has many new things in every respect. That's what motivates my opinion on the matter.

At the same time, as I mentioned before, I expect gradual progress, which should consist of fully understanding how it works and finding solutions.

I also believe the project needs to reach a certain level of maturity, and the only way to achieve this is through thorough research to gather data and act accordingly. This hasn't happened yet: they don't yet have the necessary information to feed the technical infrastructure and facilities they've created. So it's a matter of time. Perhaps it's something simple to fix. Perhaps it's several things. If they don't know yet, I certainly don't either.

[Petebass]

Perhaps Alo and Str will drive in a way that forces an engine failure during the race, aiming to provoke a 100% response from Honda.
It might be a way of saying 'GP2 engine' without actually saying it.

[diffuser]

Perhaps Alo and Str will drive in a way that forces an engine failure during the race, aiming to provoke a 100% response from Honda.
It might be a way of saying 'GP2 engine' without actually saying it.

It's not like Honda can walk into a store a by a product called "Better Performance, reliability and no vibrations for 2026 Honda F1 PU!". If they had the answers they would use them. They need to figure out all those things. That is gonna take time.

[Petebass]

Perhaps Alo and Str will drive in a way that forces an engine failure during the race, aiming to provoke a 100% response from Honda.
It might be a way of saying 'GP2 engine' without actually saying it.

It's not like Honda can walk into a store a by a product called "Better Performance, reliability and no vibrations for 2026 Honda F1 PU!". If they had the answers they would use them. They need to figure out all those things. That is gonna take time.

Sure! But Honda could actually put their best engineers and maximum resources on it and stop with the rotations and other inventions

[peewon]

I think they have a good idea as to the main reason of the vibrations which is the MGU-K placement. I think Honda are trying to eliminate vibrations by changing other things like mountings, etc. I think Newey and Aston dont think they will find a solution without a complete redesign but Honda will remain stubborn for some time. This is the reason for friction in public statements. I don think there is any solution this season at all. They might reach a level where a severely underpowered PU can finish a race but thats all.

[diffuser]

I think they have a good idea as to the main reason of the vibrations which is the MGU-K placement. I think Honda are trying to eliminate vibrations by changing other things like mountings, etc. I think Newey and Aston dont think they will find a solution without a complete redesign but Honda will remain stubborn for some time. This is the reason for friction in public statements. I don think there is any solution this season at all. They might reach a level where a severely underpowered PU can finish a race but thats all.

Not sure where you heard that...It would be good news.
The MGU-K connects to the MGU-K transmission that connects to the block and then crankshaft. be interseting to know more.