Aston Martin 2026 flop ‘the biggest blunder in F1 history’ claims top Fernando Alonso insider

Newey arrives at Aston Martin — Photo: © IMAGO

Aston Martin F1

Aston Martin 2026 flop ‘the biggest blunder in F1 history’ claims top Fernando Alonso insider

A brutal take on proceedings at Aston Martin in 2026

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Friday 8 May 2026 21:15

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Aston Martin is experiencing a true F1 disaster in 2026, and as a result, a nation is weeping.

This was supposed to be the year that Fernando Alonso finally got a car to once again challenge for championships after two decades in the wilderness.

The hiring of F1 design genius Adrian Newey, bankrolled by billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll, was meant to usher the 44-year-old Spanish superstar back to relevance at the right end of the grid.

Instead, the AMR26 is several seconds off the pace with Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll unable to finish races in the early stage of the season going due to vibrations from the much-maligned Honda power unit.

So instead of F1 interest in Alonso’s homeland being revived, ratings in Spain are down as the maestro from Oviedo trundles along in what amount to glorified test sessions.

The misery at Aston Martin has been one of the storylines of the season so far, and one man who is closer to it than most is Antonio Lobato, lead F1 commentator for DAZN in Spain and a close confidant of Alonso for more than two decades.

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Lobato issues withering take on Aston Martin misery

Lobato’s take on the whole encounter is especially withering, and he provided it in full during a fascinating interview with Spanish YouTuber Senen Moran (you can watch it in full at the bottom of this article).

He claimed: "Aston Martin's blunder right now, for me, is the biggest blunder from a team in the history of Formula 1.

"It's a strong team, right? A modest team, a small team, a team that has ultra-modern facilities, the most modern that exist, the best wind tunnel, they have a new simulator, they have a team of aerodynamicists and staff that they’ve been putting together and taking from other teams.

"They have Adrian Newey, there was enormous expectation placed on them, and then they go and screw it up because the partnership with Honda doesn’t work. It’s a disaster, a disaster."

This is brutal deja vu for Fernando Alonso

If you are weeping for Alonso and another lost season as you read this article, prepare to weep even more. As what Lobato claims is the second-biggest blunder in F1 history also featured Fernando, and again, Honda. That was his second spell with the Woking team which began in 2015 and famously included Alonso bemoaning his ‘GP2 engine’.

Lobato continued: "But I insist, there’s never been a disaster like this in the history of Formula 1. In fact, we were looking for precedents and the closest precedent is that of McLaren-Honda.

"In both stories, Fernando was there. He was in both. I don’t know if it’s bad luck, I mean, he’s very good on track, but he’s very bad at making decisions about where to go."

Mercedes to Honda move was always the big fear

Lobato says while the majority of experts expected the arrival of Newey to make Aston Martin real contenders, he himself always saw the change from Mercedes to Honda power units as the big looming issue.

"I spent all of last year explaining it to people who stopped me in the street and said to me, 'Antonio…Newey, we’ve signed Newey’. ‘But do you know who Newey is?’ And they’d say to me, 'Yes, man, he’s an engineer and all that'.

"And I’d say, 'But what does he do?' They’d say, 'Newey, this guy is really good'. I’d say, 'Yes, yes, but this guy works on aerodynamics, making wings, cars'.

"But next year the big change is in the engines. And Aston Martin is going from having a Mercedes-Benz engine to having a Honda engine. And that is the key, and that’s where the key is."

You can watch the full interview - and it is absolutely fascinating - right here:

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Fernando Alonso Lawrence Stroll