The development of Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin Formula 1 car started “about four months late” compared to its rivals. This is acknowledged by Adrian Neweye in an interview published on the team’s website. Newey states that rivals were able to start testing when the 2026 wind tunnel ban was lifted on January 1 last year.
Newey began working with Aston Martin last March, with all his attention focused on 2026, rather than solving 2025 problems.
But the 2026 project could not fully begin immediately, as the team hoped that its new wind tunnel, “probably the best wind tunnel in the world for F1 applications,” according to Newey, was in operation.
“The AMR Technology Campus continues to evolve; the wind tunnel wasn’t ready until April, and I joined the team last March, so we were actually late to start. It’s been a very tight, busy 10 months,” said Newey, now also team manager at Aston Martin.
A big disadvantage
“The reality is that we were not able to get a model of the 2026 car into the wind tunnel until mid-April, while most, if not all, of our rivals would have had a model in the wind tunnel from the moment when the 2026 aerodynamic test ban ended in early January last year.
“2026 is probably the first time in F1 history that power unit and chassis regulations change simultaneously,” Newey stated on the team’s website. “This is a completely new regulation, which is a big challenge for all the teams, but perhaps even more so for us.”
The AMR Technology Campus continues to evolve; The CoreWeave wind tunnel wasn’t fully operational until April, and I joined the team last March, so we were admittedly late to start. It’s been a very tight and busy 10 months.
“The car was finished at the last minute that’s why we didn’t make it to the Barcelona Shakedown on the first day.” he added.
A different car
The front suspension geometry and rear design of the AMR26 have already caught the attention of rival teams during pre-season, but Newey announces that there is still a lot of development ahead and the potential is huge. In fact, early data indicates that the Aston Martin Formula 1 team would have a potential margin of improvement of approximately three seconds in its race performance, a significant jump based on the first evaluations of the AMR26 in early 2026. This improvement is key to approaching the head of the group.
No matter how bold the AMR26 in Barcelona was,Newey promises the Aston Martin taking part in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix will be “very different”.
“The AMR26 competing in Melbourne “It will be very different from the one seen at the Barcelona Shakedown, and the AMR26 we finish the season with in Abu Dhabi will be very different from the one we started.” advertisement.
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