Aston Martin ‘struggle with F1 speed limit’ at Barcelona testing

Aston Martin are reportedly struggling with the straight line speed of their new F1 car at the private shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The team only opted to use two of their three allocated days of testing in Barcelona, and one of those was spent in the garage for most of the day, with Lance Stroll only getting out onto the track to complete five laps on Thursday evening before bringing out a late red flag.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso then got to drive the Adrian Newey-designed AMR26 for the first time on Friday, reportedly taking both the morning and afternoon sessions.

But according to Spanish publication Soy Motor, Alonso has spent much of the day struggling for straight line speed in his Honda-powered Aston Martin car.

They reported the Spaniard had been hovering between the 230 and 275km/h range on the straights at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and that he had not reached above 300km/h during the morning session.

There are no official lap times or data coming from F1 regarding this private shakedown in Barcelona, so all reports must be taken with a pinch of salt.

Not only is this the first Aston Martin car to be designed by F1 legend Newey, but it's also the first Aston Martin to be powered by Honda, who have begun supplying the team with power units after their highly-successful partnership with Red Bull came to an end.

Honda Racing president Koji Watanabe has been rather pessimistic about the Japanese car manufacturer's new power unit in recent weeks, stating that the new regulations are 'extremely challenging'.

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Stroll's limited F1 testing

Aston Martin have only really utilised one of the three days of testing that were available to teams in Barcelona.

They revealed last week that they would not be turning up to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until Thursday, with their car not quite ready, but Thursday saw them sat in their garage for a long time.

The delays were reportedly down to Newey wanting to wait until the last minute in terms of his design ideas, and F1 legend Martin Brundle recently stated he was 'not surprised' by Newey's late show.

They will, however, be taking part in the Bahrain tests next month, with two three-day events at the Bahrain International Circuit before the season gets underway in March.

And Stroll may be the most relieved about that, with the Canadian driver so far only having completed five official testing laps in the new car, with the Silverstone-based outfit reportedly prioritising 44-year-old Alonso on the final day of the private shakedown in Barcelona.

Nevertheless, Stroll had some good things to say about his new car, being much more positive than the reports of a struggling AMR26.

"It felt good, nice to be back in the car after a few weeks off," Stroll told F1TV. "Everyone did a good job of getting the car ready today. It was a long day for all the mechanics and everyone in the team, pushing flat out to get the car ready.

"We got a few laps in at the end of the day, and it was feeling good."

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