Mercedes star George Russell reckons Aston Martin is the squad most certainly to problem final 12 months’s high 4 within the 2026 Components 1 season when new rules are launched.
The Silver Arrows, Ferrari, Crimson Bull and reigning champions McLaren have been a big reduce above the remaining lately. A lot in order that the final race received by none of these groups was the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon claimed victory within the loopy contest.
However that might all change this season because the vehicles at the moment are completely completely different due to a big overhaul of the rules, that means the pecking order is presently anyones guess. This 12 months, an F1 chassis is lighter and smaller, down by 32kg, whereas the engine options extra electrical energy.
It’s in occasions like these when a midfield outfit may instantly jolt to the entrance and Aston Martin, which completed seventh in 2025, is the crew many have their eyes on to do precisely that. That’s as a result of from 2026 its crew principal is F1 legend Adrian Newey, who has designed many championship-winning vehicles just like the FW14B, FW18 or RB6 – simply to call a couple of.
That’s not all, nonetheless, as Aston Martin additionally boasts world champion Fernando Alonso and it has switched from being a Mercedes buyer to a Honda works’ outfit, the Japanese marque beforehand helped energy Crimson Bull’s Max Verstappen to 4, consecutive world titles.
May F1 subsequently have a multi-team championship combat on its palms? “I feel the very best case state of affairs from the game and likewise for the drivers is that you have various completely different drivers and various completely different groups all battling it out,” stated Russell, who’s presently the bookmakers’ favorite for the 2026 title.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Photograph by: Aston Martin Racing
“For the time being it does seem like Crimson Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and ourselves are, for instance, the 4 groups which are all fairly shut inside each other. However you may’t low cost what you’ve got seen from Aston Martin and what Adrian has performed with that automotive.
“It appears fairly spectacular and Honda over the previous few years with Crimson Bull have had an excellent engine beneath them – so we additionally know what they’re able to. So, that will be superior to see a giant combat. I keep in mind it was 2010 whenever you had the McLarens, Fernando [then at Ferrari] and the Crimson Bulls all preventing – that is what the game is about and that is what we hope it will likely be about this 12 months.”
Though Newey is now Aston’s crew boss, when he joined final March his position was managing technical accomplice together with his sole focus being to develop this 12 months’s automotive. And when F1 held the marketing campaign’s first collective shakedown in Barcelona final week, Newey’s fingerprints had been very a lot seen on the AMR26.
The bulbous nostril appears fascinating, paying homage to Brawn, as does the distinctive endplate and sidepod design. However it was the suspension bundle that caught most consideration – with a radical inclination of the higher wishbone that James Vowles was extraordinarily complimentary of.
“Adrian is only a artistic designer,” stated the Williams boss. “And it is actually spectacular what he is performed with wishbones in locations that I do not suppose they need to be. However he is performed them. You will see it in our entrance wishbone. It is barely completely different, however the place Adrian’s gone is Adrian. Very spectacular, very artistic, very excessive. I would not wish to be the designer for that one. Let’s put it that approach.”
However Russell was additionally fast to level out that although a automotive may look fascinating, it doesn’t essentially translate to quick lap occasions. Newey just lately revealed, for instance, that wind tunnel testing for the AMR26 began roughly 4 months late and Aston Martin additionally didn’t seem within the five-day shakedown till day 4.
Adrian Newey
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
That meant it accomplished the least mileage of any crew, apart from Williams which didn’t present up. What’s extra, there are additionally doubts over the Silverstone squad’s capacity to correctly develop a automotive given its decline from a podium-laden begin to 2023 to agency midfield outcomes two years later.
Russell stated: “I feel the Aston Martin was in all probability essentially the most standout by way of the automotive design. All people was that rear suspension and it clearly visually appears very spectacular, nevertheless it’s not a contest of how horny it’s.
“It is a competitors of how briskly it goes across the monitor. So individuals at all times look in direction of the quickest automotive and we’ll discover that in Melbourne. Whoever that’s, that would be the automotive that you just want to try to take inspiration from.”
The 2026 marketing campaign begins with the Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March, with two official pre-season assessments in Bahrain (11-13 and 18-20 February) earlier than then.
Further reporting by Filip Cleeren and Stuart Codling
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