EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Schiff ‘rings alarm bells’ over Lance Stroll’s damning Aston Martin claim

F1 analyst and former driver Naomi Schiff has warned that Lance Stroll's recent comments about the pace of Adrian Newey's AMR26 car spells trouble for Aston Martin.

Schiff joined the Sky Sports F1 team in 2022 as a pundit and host but became a frequent fixture of the broadcasting lineup after proving popular with their audience. She is now a lead analyst with the UK broadcaster, but balances race weekend duties with Canal+, and ahead of the 2026 campaign, is also joining a new podcast aimed at a wide variety of F1 fans.

Speaking exclusively to GPFans on the launch day of the new Up to Speed podcast, Schiff was joined by co-host Jolie Sharpe, a digital-first content creator and sports presenter, with the pair unpacking what fans could expect from their new show as well as giving their thoughts on the upcoming championship.

2026 will see a brand new era of the sport as a major regulations overhaul comes into play, something that Schiff and Sharpe are both keen to play a role in as they tackle helping both new and old fans get to grips with the new terminology.

But the pair aren't worried the controversial new rules will put fans off the sport, with Schiff even going as far as to say the new regulations and the disagreements they are causing between drivers may actually be good for F1.

"With the drivers talking, that creates headlines," she said, referencing the disdain that Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have both shared during pre-season testing regarding the new cars.

But Schiff made one thing clear that does concern her with less than one month to go until lights out in Melbourne, and that is Aston Martin.

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Schiff: 'Lance wasn't exaggerating, Aston Martin are on the backfoot'

Following the first week of official pre-season testing in Bahrain, both Schiff and Sharpe told GPFans it was too early to accurately predict the pecking order.

Amid claims from Toto Wolff that Red Bull are the benchmark, Sharpe said: "At the moment there’s a lot of pointing fingers and sandbagging."

Schiff on the other hand felt one thing certainly was clear after the Barcelona shakedown and the first three days of Bahrain testing, saying: "Aston Martin are clearly on the backfoot."

The Silverstone squad headed into the 2026 pre-season calendar full of promise thanks to Adrian Newey designing the AMR26 and team owner Lawrence Stroll having also promoted the technical genius to team principal.

But after arriving late to Barcelona, quite literally running out of time to paint the car, Newey's first Aston Martin F1 car only put in 65 laps across the final two days of the January shakedown.

After the first stint of testing in Bahrain last week, the team's driver duo of Stroll and Fernando Alonso also appeared frustrated at their new machinery and the new Honda works power unit.

Following his first full day at the wheel of Newey's car last Wednesday, Stroll claimed Aston Martin were way off the pace of their rivals. Speaking to media in the desert, the 27-year-old made the damning claim: "Right now we look like we’re four seconds off the top team, four and a half seconds."

Reflecting on Stroll's comments, Schiff and Sharpe were asked if they felt Newey would be able to claw back the pace deficit this year.

Schiff replied, pointing to the fact that the claims came from the usually media shy Stroll as a sign that things are not going according to plan.

"That was a bit of a shock to hear from him. And Lance wasn’t exaggerating either. He said they were four seconds behind and then the next time he got on track they were roughly four seconds behind," Schiff said.

"That rings alarm bells a bit for me."

When asked to give predictions for any surprises that may come out of the 2026 season, Schiff continued to raise her concerns for Stroll's team, adding: "Aston Martin for me already have been the negative surprise."

Sharpe was optimistic about the Silverstone squad’s chances this season though, saying: "If anyone can turn things around, Adrian Newey can."

Up To Speed with David Coulthard, Will Buxton, Naomi Schiff and Jolie Sharpe is available wherever you get your podcasts on Mondays and Wednesdays.

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