![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/623526093_1189871300024427_2438492534883738800_n.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFernando Alonso on track in the Aston Martin AMR26 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the F1 pre-season shakedown.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFernando Alonso on track in the Aston Martin AMR26 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the F1 pre-season shakedown.<\/p>\n
The team was a latecomer to this year\u2019s shakedown at Barcelona, which Newey said stems back to delays encountered at the beginning of 2025.<\/p>\n
Newey said that most of Aston Martin\u2019s rivals had been running their wind tunnels in January, whereas the Silverstone squad was not able to begin until April.<\/p>\n
The knock-on effect was the team completing just one of a potential three days of testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.<\/p>\n
\u201c2026 is probably the first time in the history of F1 that the power unit regulations and chassis regulations have changed at the same time,\u201d Newey explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely new set of rules, which is a big challenge for all the teams, but perhaps more so for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AMR Technology Campus is still evolving, the CoreWeave Wind Tunnel wasn\u2019t on song until April, and I only joined the team last March, so we\u2019ve started from behind, in truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very compressed timescale and an extremely busy 10 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is that we didn\u2019t get a model of the \u201826 car into the wind tunnel until mid-April.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost, if not all of our rivals would have had a model in the wind tunnel from the moment the 2026 aero testing ban ended at the beginning of January last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat put us on the back foot by about four months, which has meant a very, very compressed research and design cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car only came together at the last minute, which is why we were fighting to make it to the Barcelona Shakedown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aston Martin returns in 2026 with two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for his 10th season.<\/p>\n
Newey stressed that the car that debuted at Barcelona will undergo significant changes between now and Melbourne and even more by the season\u2019s end at Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
With the new regulations, Newey is optimistic that a move away from the ground effect cars will be beneficial for his drivers.<\/p>\n
Newey said it is \u201cvery important to keep an open mind\u201d to the development of the AMR26.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous generation of ground effect cars from 2022 to 2025 became quite difficult to drive. The Aston Martin, unfortunately, was one particular example of that,\u201d said Newey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this new formula, we\u2019re trying to make a car that Lance and Fernando can consistently extract a good level of performance from.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the design itself, the Aston Martin drew a lot of attention at the Barcelona shakedown for its bold design.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he agreed that it was an \u201caggressive\u201d design, Newey said it was neither here nor there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never look at any of my designs as aggressive. I just get on with things and pursue what we feel is the right direction,\u201d Newey explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe direction we\u2019ve taken could certainly be interpreted as aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got quite a few features that haven\u2019t necessarily been done before. Does that make it aggressive? Possibly. Possibly not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took a really close look at the regulations and what we believe we want to achieve from a flow field perspective to suit them, and from there started to evolve a geometry that attempts to create the flow fields that we want.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very much a holistic approach \u2014 but, in truth, with a completely new set of regulations, nobody is ever sure what the right philosophy is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly aren\u2019t sure what the best interpretation of the regulations is and therefore the best philosophy to follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of our compressed timescale, we decided on a particular direction and that\u2019s the one we\u2019ve pursued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that proves to be the right one or not, only time will tell. But you have to choose your path and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/285241.gif\")