Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa believes it would be “very easy” to place its troubled pre-season on Adrian Newey’s late arrival to the team.
The Silverstone-based squad only completed 394 laps in the entirety of testing as numerous issues with the Honda power unit restricted the running of the Newey-designed AMR26.
Honda has identified that vibrations were causing damage to the battery, with solutions set to be introduced ahead of the first batch of grands prix.
However, Aston Martin is behind the other 10 teams on the grid in terms of developing its 2026 car after Newey’s late arrival from Red Bull.
His period of gardening leave ended in spring 2025, with the iconic designer committing to a redesign of the project after his arrival.
The other 10 teams were all able to start developing their 2026 cars on January 1st, 2025 will none undergoing as senior a technical change as Aston with Newey.
Reflecting on the situation, de la Rosa believes that blaming Newey’s late arrival or the fact that Honda effectively started its power unit operation from scratch after previously withdrawing in 2021 would be “very easy” excuses to make.
“I mean, looking back is always easy, but ‘we should have, we shouldn’t have’ doesn’t work in motorsport,” de la Rosa told media, including RacingNews365.
“I mean, if we had started earlier, if Adrian had been here, not from March 2nd, but a few months earlier, if Honda had gone and then come back, it is ifs and buts.
“But the bottom line is that we are slow. We are not where we want to be; let’s get a plan together.
“We know exactly what is wrong, and so let’s look ahead and not look back.
“It is very easy to blame the time that we started late; there were many reasons.
“The important thing is that we know what they are, and that gives us confidence that slowly, gradually, the difference will show.”