Aston Martin ‘four seconds’ off the pace and Stroll delivers blunt verdict

Adrian Newey’s first F1 project with Aston Martin is reportedly well off the pace, with the team’s driver line-up showing signs of frustration during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Aston Martin only just made it to last month’s Barcelona shakedown, arriving with an all-black car after running out of time to apply their traditional green livery. The Silverstone-based team completed just 65 laps across the two-day outing, limiting their ability to gather meaningful early data.

Lance Stroll, the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, managed only five laps in the new AMR26 during the Barcelona running. However, he was handed full control of the Newey-designed car on the opening day of testing in Bahrain this week, as Aston Martin looked to make up for lost time.

But after taking to the Bahrain International Circuit in both the AM and PM sessions on Wednesday, it seems more time with Newey's latest design did not allow Stroll to warm to the idea of driving a car that he has now described as 'not great'.

Stroll on Newey's Aston Martin: 'The livery is nice!'

But after the first official pre-season test days in Sakhir this week, Stroll claims Aston Martin are four seconds behind their rivals.

The 27-year-old spoke to media on Thursday as his two-time champion team-mate Fernando Alonso was reportedly seen stropping around the Aston Martin garage.

"We have a lot of work to do, catching up to do," Stroll said.

"We have probably 400 less laps than the competition with Barcelona and everything that we missed, so we just have to keep pushing."

Asked if he was frustrated by Aston Martin’s disappointing start to testing after finishing second from last in the timings on Wednesday, Stroll added: "It is what it is. We just focus on where we are and what we can improve on going forward and that’s what we can do.”

Stroll went on to admit that Newey's Aston Martin is suffering from a multitude of problems, but also pointed out the balance issues appear to be stemming partly from the engine, saying: "It’s a combination of things: engine, balance, grip. It’s not one thing, it’s a combination.”

When pushed to find just a single positive from Aston Martin's trip to the desert this week, all Stroll could muster up in response was: "Sunny outside. The weather’s nice. Better than UK weather! The livery looks nice."

When assessing whether Aston Martin will be able to catch up to their rivals in time for the opening race in Melbourne, Stroll painted a bleak picture of Newey's outfit, adding: "I don’t know. Right now we look like we’re four seconds off the top team, four and a half seconds.

"Impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running. But now we need to try and find four seconds of performance. I don’t think it falls from the sky."

So, with less than a month to go until the opening grand prix of 2026, where does that leave Aston Martin in Stroll's eyes?

"We’re trying to extract more performance every day from the car and think also, longer term, bring upgrades on the PU side, on the chassis side, and we will see in Australia where we line up and then we will see throughout the season how we progress. But we’re pushing as hard as we can that’s all we can do right now," he concluded.

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