Lance Stroll has conceded that Aston Martin does not yet have \u201call the tools to be a top team\u201d ahead of the launch of the new ARM26 car for the F1 2026 season.<\/p>\n
It comes after Adrian Newey, the newly installed team principal, highlighted Aston Martin\u2019s simulation tools as a key area of weakness last year.<\/p>\n
Lance Stroll echoes Adrian Newey concerns ahead of AMR26 arrival<\/p>\n
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Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Much is expected from Aston Martin ahead of the F1 2026 season, which brings sweeping changes to the technical regulations as the sport embraces 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics.<\/p>\n The new season will mark the start of Aston Martin\u2019s highly anticipated technical partnership with Honda, Red Bull\u2019s former engine supplier.<\/p>\n Development of the AMR26 is being led by Adrian Newey, the legendary F1 tech guru, who has become Aston Martin team principal ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n Newey made his first trackside appearances with Aston Martin last season following his high-profile move from Red Bull.<\/p>\n Why Adrian Newey\u2019s bond with Fernando Alonso is key for Aston Martin<\/p>\n Why Adrian Newey\u2019s private Alonso talks are so important for Aston Martin<\/a><\/p>\n F1 driver contracts: What is the contract status of every driver on the F1 2026 grid?<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking at last year\u2019s Monaco Grand Prix, Newey tempered expectations surrounding Aston Martin for 2026<\/a> by branding the team\u2019s simulation tools \u201cweak.\u201d<\/p>\n Newey went on to claim that Aston Martin\u2019s driver-in-the-loop simulator \u2013 a crucial development device for teams in the era of limited testing \u2013 particularly \u201cneeds a lot of work.\u201d<\/p>\n Aston Martin has since taken steps to remedy the situation, bringing Newey\u2019s former Red Bull colleague Giles Wood<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a highly regarded figure in the simulation world \u2013 back to F1 a matter of weeks after the veteran\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n As reported by PlanetF1.com<\/a>, the team then hired former Ferrari simulations man Marco Fainello, who worked at the Scuderia during Michael Schumacher\u2019s period of dominance, on a consultancy basis in November.<\/p>\n Stroll has admitted that Aston Martin does not yet have \u201call the tools to be a top team\u201d at this stage in its development.<\/p>\n Asked about his gut feeling over where Aston Martin will be in the 2026 pecking order, he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: \u201cIt\u2019s a big question mark for everybody.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one knows at this time of the year how everyone\u2019s going to look in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure, we don\u2019t have all the tools to be a top team, so there\u2019s no hiding behind that, but time will tell how good we look.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, for us, it\u2019s exciting, going forward to the new regulations, with everyone coming on board, the new structure and all the people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to it as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked directly by PlanetF1.com if Newey\u2019s promotion to a senior role has applied more pressure on the team to perform, he added: \u201cI think it\u2019s just good for everyone because Adrian is just all about performance and winning.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, to be fast and competitive, and that\u2019s what Adrian\u2019s pushing everyone to be better at.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving Adrian around is only positive for everyone to push, everyone to be better and to make the car faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Stroll\u2019s comments come after Honda became the first manufacturer to release images of its new power unit for 2026<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n In addition to the still images, a short video clip \u2013 produced for attendees of the Tokyo Auto Salon event \u2013 widely circulated online showing the Honda engine in its entirety.<\/p>\n Honda will hold an unusual engine-launch event in Tokyo on January 20, six days before the start of F1\u2019s first pre-season test in Barcelona, which is to be held behind closed doors.<\/p>\n Aston Martin will then officially launch the AMR26 on February 9 ahead of the remaining two winter tests in Bahrain.<\/p>\n Koji Watanabe, the president of the Honda Racing Corporation, issued an update on the Japanese manufacturer\u2019s progress<\/a> earlier this week, admitting that \u201cnot everything is going well\u201d with the development of its new engine.<\/p>\n Watanabe told Japanese outlet Sportiva:\u00a0\u201cTo be honest, not everything is going well, so there are many areas where we are struggling, but nothing fatal has happened that we cannot overcome.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this situation, we are quietly concentrating on improving performance and reliability.<\/p>\n \u201cAston Martin also wants to keep building cars that reflect Adrian\u2019s vision, so I think the next step for us on the power unit side is to figure out how to adapt to that.<\/p>\n \u201cIf doing so increases our competitiveness and makes us more likely to win, then we\u2019ll do whatever it takes!\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n