Intrigue mounts around Aston Martin’s Formula 1 project, and it’s only a matter of days before we start to gather some answers.

The team held its season launch on Monday at Ithra, a cultural center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. This year not only marks Aston Martin’s first as a works team, but the AMR26 is the first Adrian Newey-designed car for Aston Martin.

The car’s origins were similar to those of others in his legendary portfolio, which includes Red Bull’s dominant RB19: a drawing board and a pencil-on-paper approach at the Silverstone facility. Newey is known as one of F1’s most successful car designers and spent 19 seasons at Red Bull before joining Aston Martin last year. But Newey is more than just the team’s managing technical partner, now. Following a management reshuffle announced late last year, he officially became the team principal this year.

“2026 is a rare moment in Formula One because, for the first time, the chassis and power unit regulations have changed together,” Newey said in the news release. “With brand-new regulations, the best philosophy is never immediately obvious, and your understanding evolves as the car develops. With the AMR26 we’ve taken a holistic approach: it’s not about one standout component, but how the full package works together. The focus has been on strong fundamentals, development potential, and a car that Lance and Fernando can hopefully extract performance from consistently.”

The AMR26 made its debut at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the shakedown week in late January. However, it arrived late in the week in an all-black livery and had limited running. Lance Stroll only completed a handful of laps on the Thursday of Barcelona Shakedown week, and Fernando Alonso completed 61 laps the following day. According to the team’s news release from Barcelona, they were able “to build an early baseline understanding of the car.”

“I think the Aston Martin was probably the most standout in terms of the car design,” George Russell recently said, ahead of Mercedes’ 2026 season launch. “I think everybody was looking at that rear suspension, and it obviously visually looks very impressive. But it’s not a competition of how sexy it is. It’s a competition of how fast it goes around the track.

“People always look towards the fastest car, and we’ll find that out in Melbourne. Whoever that is, that will be the car that you wish to try and take inspiration from.”

An evolution.

Refined for what comes next.

A closer look at our 2026 livery. pic.twitter.com/Yvmisj4sKh

— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) February 9, 2026

Two other big changes are coming to the team this year. It built its own gearbox for the first time in several years after serving as a Mercedes customer team for several years, and it welcomed Honda as its works partner as the team readied for this complex regulatory era. Nearly every aspect of the cars is changing this season, including the power unit, aerodynamics, tires, and fuels.

When talking about how close the top four teams appeared to be during the Barcelona Shakedown Week, Russell also added Aston Martin as one not to count out, giving a nod to the Honda partnership as well.

“You can’t discount what you’ve seen from Aston Martin and what Adrian has done with that car. It looks pretty spectacular,” Russell said. “And Honda, over the past few years, with Red Bull, have had a very good engine beneath them, so we also know what they’re capable of. So that would be awesome to see, a big fight. I remember it was 2010, I think it was, when you had the McLarens, Fernando (Alonso) and the Red Bulls all fighting.

“That’s what the sport is about, and that’s what we hope it will be about this year.”

Aston Martin hasn’t had an easy time in recent seasons, finishing the 2023 and 2024 campaigns in fifth and ending the 2025 season seventh. With last season being the final year of the regulations, the field converged in performance, with margins razor-thin. Alonso said in the news release, “The past few years were not easy, but we’ve learned a lot, and that experience always makes you stronger. Everybody in this team shares the same hunger to be competitive and I have seen how much effort is happening behind the scenes to give us a car we can develop across the season.”