Aston Martin and Adrian Newey given massive F1 lifeline after terrible 2026 start

Aston Martin

Aston Martin and Adrian Newey given massive F1 lifeline after terrible 2026 start

Global news might just help them out

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Monday 16 March 2026 13:15

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Aston Martin's car sucks.

That's not news to anyone who's paid half a second of attention to the new F1 season, but it remains absolutely true – although news announced late on Saturday night may provide an unexpected opportunity. More on that in a moment.

Things are...not turning a corner, so much, but at least marginally improving though. The green machines ran the same numbers of laps as Cadillac in free practice on Friday, and more than Racing Bulls (Arvid Lindblad's car gave up after a handful of laps, if you recall).

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It doesn't seem like much, but that's a step forward from Australia. Both Astons also competed in Friday and Saturday sprint and feature race qualifying and that, too, is progress from just a week ago. They didn't just get both cars to the starting line for the spring race, but both cars finished! Three of their rivals can't claim that.

The point is, it seems as though the team is at least stumbling in the right direction as they seek to undo the damage already done to their hopes of being halfway competitive.

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Honda you think you are?

The main issue, infamously, is the Honda engine – with team principal and design genius Adrian Newey making no bones about that fact in Melbourne last week.

They'll have two weeks after the Chinese Grand Prix to fiddle with the engine, presumably working much more closely with Honda than previously, before the engine supplier's home race in Japan.

After that, it was meant to be a busy couple of weekends in the Middle East. Unusually for F1, those plans have been forced to change entirely.

The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix have been cancelled on safety grounds as conflict continues in the area, with Iranian military retaliating against American and Israeli strikes, turning much of the region into a no-go zone.

While bad for F1 in general (that's a £100m loss on hosting fees, never mind the human cost of the conflict), there's a small silver lining for Aston Martin. The cancellations mean that there's a gaping hole in the racing schedule which encompasses the whole of April, giving them some desperately needed time to knuckle down and work like hell to produce something like a competitive car when the sport returns in Miami in May.

Will it be enough to put them up front with Mercedes and Ferrari? Uh, no. They can't even get out on track to test in between races, given F1 rules. But given the current spread of the grid (remember, they're already faster than Cadillac!) it's possible that we could see Fernando Alonso getting out of Q1 in just two races time.

Of course, they still need to actually finish a full race distance. Let's see how that goes.

F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey