{"id":386422,"date":"2026-01-02T08:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386422\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:02:16","slug":"aston-martin-passes-essential-hurdle-in-2026-f1-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386422\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Martin passes essential hurdle in 2026 F1 preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aston Martin<\/a>\u2018s preparations for the upcoming Formula 1<\/a> campaign are continuing at pace as the team has fired up its 2026 car.<\/p>\n

The Silverstone-based squad is embarking upon the rule changes with a switch in engine supplier as it partners up with Honda.<\/p>\n

Honda engineers were in attendance at Aston Martin\u2019s base as the team shared a clip that showed the power unit being fired up.<\/p>\n

This marks an essential step in the team\u2019s preparations as the engine and chassis come together for the first time prior to the winter shutdown.<\/p>\n

Following a dismal return to F1 in 2015 with McLaren, Honda powered Red Bull to two Constructors\u2019 titles and Max Verstappen to four Drivers\u2019 Championships.<\/p>\n

The Japanese marque has now teamed up with Aston Martin as the British marque aims to become a serious contender at the top.<\/p>\n

Honda\u2019s new partnership sees it reunite with Adrian Newey, the storied design guru who will begin the season as Aston Martin\u2019s new team boss.<\/p>\n

Along with Newey, Fernando Alonso will be hoping that his own second spell with Honda will give him the chance to return to the top step in 2026.<\/p>\n

The two-time F1 champion, who will partner Lance Stroll for a fourth campaign, has not won a single race since the Spanish Grand Prix in May 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic, because it\u2019s a reset of things. You know, everyone has the chance to do a better job than the others,\u201d Alonso told media including Motorsport Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start from scratch, so that\u2019s one thing that offers always hope. We have our new facilities completed now, we have our own wind tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Honda as engine supplier \u2013 and only for us. Aramco, Adrian Newey\u2026 so we have some good things to be optimistic [about], but this is a very competitive sport, and everyone is doing a very good job. So we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m relaxed. You know, it\u2019s a long championship ahead. I think a lot of things will happen in the first three or four months of the year, when you discover the cars and which direction and philosophy everyone took, you learn a lot of things in the first two or three races.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you know, I think we have the right people and the right facilities and environment to have a good season. So it\u2019s up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Why Fernando Alonso supports Aston Martin\u2019s stance over Christian Horner hire<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aston Martin\u2018s preparations for the upcoming Formula 1 campaign are continuing at pace as the team has fired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[18573,64,63,817,914,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-386422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-astonmartin","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-honda","13":"tag-motor","14":"tag-motor-sports","15":"tag-motosport","16":"tag-motosports","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}