Aston Martin chief confirms Adrian Newey decision after Barcelona misery

Aston Martin F1 chief Mike Krack says the team is fully behind Adrian Newey's decision to delay major upgrades until the summer break.

The expensively-assembled team had a disastrous start to the 2026 season, only picking up one point from their opening seven race weekends, and they have failed to finish several grands prix as they struggle with reliability issues from their Honda power unit.

At the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix last weekend, neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll were able to finish the race.

Aston Martin could soon be set for a reprieve on the power unit side of things with the Additional Develop and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) ruling that Honda are between two and four per cent behind the best power unit, meaning that they get two opportunities throughout 2026 to bring upgrades to their power unit.

That may not completely solve all their problems, however, with Newey's chassis design also coming in for criticism.

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Design legend Newey searching for answers

The design legend has claimed 26 world championship titles across his career, and joined Aston Martin last March with the team hoping that he could propel them into race-winning contention.

Despite Newey's initial AMR26 chassis design not appearing to be particularly competitive, Krack has defended the 67-year-old - claiming the period between now and the summer break is one of the periods when they're expecting him to really deliver.

What upgrades will Newey and Aston Martin bring?

Newey and the team are currently working on a raft of upgrades which they hope will propel them from the back of the pack right up to the points-challenging positions.

The AMR26 is set to undergo such mass changes that their car for the second half of the season is being described as the AMR26 'B', thought to be almost an entirely new chassis.

Chief trackside officer Krack says the team are behind Newey, and the decisions that he makes as team principal and managing technical partner.

"We have a strong leader, and that decision was made for the upgrades," Krack told media at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

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Team is committed to Newey decisions

"We are committed to his decisions, even if they are difficult. Our job is to stay motivated, learn as much as possible, and know that there is a lot of room for improvement. The easy thing would be to do nothing, but many problems will still be there, and every opportunity will give us a chance to at least improve."

Aston Martin - and their two-time world champion driver Fernando Alonso - will be hoping that Newey's genius shines through once again.

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