It might seem strange that Formula 1 teams are unveiling their new liveries after the first collective test of the season, but that is what 2026 has brought with its all-new regulations.
This year there are changes to both the car chassis and power unit, in what is arguably the biggest rules overhaul in F1 history – so more pre-season dates were added to help squads prepare.
It started with a five-day private shakedown in Barcelona (26-30 January), before two upcoming sessions in Bahrain (11-13 and 18-20 February) ahead of the Melbourne opener in March.
Although the Barcelona shakedown was private, there were still pictures and videos to come from it and some teams ran special testing liveries having not yet launched their official look for the year.
One of those was Aston Martin, which is launching its AMR26 on Monday, so here is a look at the Silverstone squad and what kind of shape it is in as it enters the campaign.
What’s new at Aston Martin?
There is quite a lot that’s new at the Aston Martin F1 team, with the biggest change concerning the team principal role. For the first time in his storied, decades-long career, legendary car designer Adrian Newey will be the leader of a team after a management restructuring at the British marque for 2026.
Adrian Newey
Photo by: Aston Martin
It has seen several engineers depart the organisation plus erstwhile boss Andy Cowell move into a chief strategy officer role, after insiders suggested that he and Newey both disagreed on team operations and the direction of 2026 development.
Newey ultimately won the power battle and it was no surprise, because his hiring for March 2025 was a major coup and his initial role was managing technical partner with the Briton’s sole focus being to lead development of the AMR26.
And when it finally rolled out for the Barcelona shakedown, on the fourth day of the test, the Aston had Newey’s fingerprints all over it from the unique endplate and sidepod design to the front suspension package with a radical inclination of the upper wishbone.
“Adrian is just a creative designer,” said Williams boss James Vowles of the AMR26. “It’s really impressive what he’s done with wishbones in places that I don’t think they should be. But he’s done them.
“You’ll see it in our front wishbone. It’s slightly different, but where Adrian’s gone is very Adrian. Very impressive, very creative, very extreme. I wouldn’t want to be the designer for that one. Let’s put it that way.”
But a Newey-designed car, which he hopes will add to the 12 other championship winners he’s had a hand in, isn’t all that’s new: there’s also a Honda engine after 16 years of the Silverstone-based squad being a Mercedes customer.
Honda power unit
Photo by: Honda
This comes after six successful years of the Japanese marque powering Red Bull – alongside its sister outfit Toro Rosso/Racing Bulls – to four drivers’ championships with Max Verstappen, plus two constructors’ titles. The reason for Honda changing teams is because it actually initially planned to leave F1 at the end of 2021, but then it signed a paid deal with the Austrian outfit to continue providing technical support – with Red Bull’s engines still coming out of Japan until 2025.
“We are a customer to Honda, we pay for engines through a separate entity of Red Bull Powertrains,” said Christian Horner at the time. “It has been a great relationship and they continue to provide an excellent service that we pay for, to provide engines for the four cars.”
The engine regulations for 2026 then started to go the way Honda wanted, but by that point it was already too late: Red Bull had committed to building its own in-house power units. So in came Aston Martin and the two struck a deal.
It will see Newey reunited with the Japanese marque, but only time will tell if the move pays off for Aston. The squad has ditched what’s considered to be the best power unit in F1, but it has also been elevated to works’ team status where the engine is specifically built for that chassis.
What’s the biggest challenge to Aston Martin?
It might sound strange to say given Aston Martin finished seventh in the 2025 standings and hasn’t scored a podium since the Brazilian Grand Prix at the end of 2023, but its biggest challenge is delivering on expectations.
Simply because Newey’s reputation precedes him and when a person has won as many titles as him, then people naturally start to think that he brings automatic success. That is exactly what’s happening at Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team in parc ferme
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
Cue Mercedes star George Russell: “At the moment it does look like Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and ourselves are, let’s say, the four teams that are all quite close within one another. But you can’t discount what you’ve seen from Aston Martin and what Adrian has done with that car.”
So even drivers are already starting to big up Aston’s chances for the year, predicting it to challenge amongst the big boys. But it isn’t just because of Newey, as billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has transformed the entire business and pumped in significant amounts of investment with a new high-tech campus being one example.
For a long time there’s also been talk of 2026 being the team’s golden opportunity to start fighting for wins, with title glory to follow in 2027. Aston also has world champion Fernando Alonso to boast so it all looks good on the surface, but whether it can actually deliver is another matter.
To begin with, Newey recently revealed that the team was four months late in starting its 2026 wind tunnel programme and there was talk of its car being overweight. On top of that, while its rivals, bar Williams, were able to start the Barcelona shakedown on time, Aston didn’t appear until day four with it thus completing the least mileage.
The way it also declined from being a podium regular at the start of 2023 to firm midfield fighter two years later shows troubles with how it can sufficiently upgrade a car, so another challenge will be to overcome that and develop at the rate in which it needs to be a consistent frontrunner.
What’s the strongest asset to Aston Martin?
The obvious answer is Newey and who could argue that given his track record, but for the sake of originality let’s go for Alonso – because he also brings a lot to the organisation. To be doing what he is doing at the age of 44 is remarkable, because the Spaniard is still on the same regular pace as drivers 20 years his junior and has shown what he can do when given the tools.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Just look at this start to 2023 with six podiums in eight grands prix, or even how he managed fifth in Hungary last year en route to a top-10 championship result. The only thing that’s preventing him from achieving more success is the car, as Alonso clearly still has it and the non-driving aspects that he will bring – such as experience with feedback and input into developing a car – is also invaluable to the team.
However, there is the obvious caveat that he’s achieved such results alongside a weaker team-mate in Lance Stroll, who has failed to finish higher than the two-time F1 champion since joining forces in 2023. So whether Alonso is performing exactly as he should be, or is in fact maximising the car, is a big question mark.
What’s the goal in F1 2026 for Aston Martin?
The immediate goal for Aston Martin is to return to the state it was at the start of 2023, when it was the nearest challenger to the dominant Red Bull. Life was incredible for the British squad back then, clearly delivering on the hype which comes with significant investment and it appeared ahead of its own curve in achieving success.
But then its rivals out-developed the team throughout the season and the inevitable decline came, with just two podiums for Alonso in the final 14 grands prix of the campaign and none since.
Obviously, one doesn’t expect Aston to suddenly be the second-best team again, but it needs to show significant improvements and be capable of challenging last year’s top four teams for podiums.
Because if the British marque cannot achieve that in this new era, where everything resets, then when can it?
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– The Autosport.com Team
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