Adrian Newey has revealed Aston Martin didn’t begin its 2026 wind tunnel programme till mid-April 2025, which accounts for the group’s present setback.
As System 1 held a five-day shakedown final week at Barcelona, the place every group was allowed to run on three days, Aston accomplished only one full day of testing, on Friday, after protecting a handful of laps on Thursday night.
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This required the brand new challenger to be flown from the group’s manufacturing facility to the circuit – extra exactly the closest airports in Birmingham and Girona – in an effort to have any observe time in any respect.
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However Aston’s delay might originate from what occurred 12 months in the past on the outfit’s Silverstone campus.
F1 groups have been banned from working any wind tunnel or CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) assessments relative to 2026 equipment earlier than 1 January 2025, conserving prices and sources below management amid the regulatory overhaul.
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But, Aston Martin waited for its new wind tunnel to be totally operational, reveals group principal Newey – who joined the group on 1 March, initially as ‘managing technical companion’.
“2026 might be the primary time within the historical past of F1 that the ability unit rules and chassis rules have modified on the identical time. It is a fully new algorithm, which is a giant problem for all of the groups, however maybe extra so for us,” the legendary British designer stated.
Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Accomplice of Aston Martin F1
Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Accomplice of Aston Martin F1
“The AMR Know-how Campus continues to be evolving, the CoreWeave Wind Tunnel wasn’t on music till April, and I solely joined the group final March, so we have began from behind, in reality. It has been a really compressed timescale and an especially busy 10 months.” Aston Martin beforehand introduced on 13 March 2025 that its new wind tunnel was up and working.
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“The fact is that we didn’t get a mannequin of the ’26 automobile into the wind tunnel till mid-April, whereas most, if not all of our rivals would have had a mannequin within the wind tunnel from the second the 2026 aero testing ban ended firstly of January final yr. That put us on the again foot by about 4 months, which has meant a really, very compressed analysis and design cycle. The automobile solely got here collectively on the final minute, which is why we have been combating to make it to the Barcelona shakedown.”
Like rival outfits, Aston Martin now faces a steep growth curve with its new automobile.
“The AMR26 that races in Melbourne goes to be very totally different to the one folks noticed on the Barcelona shakedown, and the AMR26 that we end the season with in Abu Dhabi goes to be very totally different to the one which we begin the season with,” Newey added. “It is crucial to maintain an open thoughts.”
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