F1 2026: Fernando Alonso gives 'confidence' verdict after Adrian Newey's Aston Martin testing disaster

Newey arrives at Aston Martin — Photo: © IMAGO

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Fernando Alonso gives 'confidence' verdict after Adrian Newey's Aston Martin testing disaster

Aston Martin are the talk of the paddock after multiple testing setbacks

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 17 February 2026 11:55

Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso has revealed whether he still has confidence in Adrian Newey after a disastrous start to the F1 design legend's first season with Aston Martin.

Newey officially joined Lawrence Stroll's Aston Martin F1 team from Red Bull in May 2025 and began working on Aston Martin's 2026 challenger immediately.

But Aston Martin's pre-season preparations for 2026 have been plagued by setbacks, the first being that when their new wind tunnel programme finally arrived last year, it was four months behind schedule.

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Newey himself even admitted that the AMR26 rocked up to the penultimate day of testing with an unusual all-black livery purely because the team had run out of time to paint it before their late arrival to the Barcelona testing.

After finally flying their new car to last month's shakedown, Lance Stroll only completed five laps on their first day of testing before Fernando Alonso racked up 60 more on the final day.

With just 65 laps to their name, Aston Martin headed to Bahrain significantly behind their rivals, something which was made worse by the fact that after getting back in the car for his first full day of testing, Stroll reckoned Aston Martin were four and a half seconds off the pace of the frontrunners.

Alonso comes to Newey's defence

Alonso hardly appeared pleased with his new machinery in the first week of official pre-season testing in Bahrain either.

Spanish media circulated reports of the two-time champion throwing his gloves on the floor of the Aston Martin garage in frustration after his testing stint last week, but now, the Spaniard has come out to defend Newey and his first Aston Martin F1 car.

Though the eventual pecking order of the teams is impossible to confirm at this stage due to the complete regulations overhaul, Alonso has said he feels Newey will be able to deliver a car capable of competing for race wins perhaps in the second half of the 2026 campaign.

The 44-year-old was also quoted by Autosport as having confirmed his belief in Newey despite the testing setbacks, saying “yeah” when asked if his confidence in Aston Martin remains.

"Especially on the chassis side," Alonso continued.

"The power unit, it's a little bit more difficult because we don't have good understanding yet on the regulations and what is needed.

"But on the chassis side, there is no question mark on that. After 30-plus years of Adrian dominating the sport, it's not that he will forget everything in one year.

"I don't know where we are now in terms of chassis and grip level, but even if we are not at 100 now, we will be at 100 soon because we will fix any problem on the power unit. We need to give time and understand where we are and, if we are behind, get better as soon as possible."

Newey has worked on 12 championship-winning cars during his impressive run in the sport, some of which Alonso had the pleasure of battling against as he attempted to make a championship comeback whilst the British engineer was working his magic at Red Bull.

Alonso still appears to have faith in the technical genius to provide him with a car capable of competing for his first grand prix victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

When does the 2026 F1 season start?

After the first round of pre-season tests in Bahrain took place between February 11 and 13, the second round continues this week from February 18 until February 20.

Aston Martin will then be back in action when the 2026 season starts in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. The first race of the year takes place on March 8 at 3pm local time (AEDT), 4am GMT, and 11pm ET.

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Fernando Alonso