Adrian Newey and Aston Martin AMR26 question marks raised after Brundle conversation

The Aston Martin AMR26, designed under Adrian Newey, stole the spotlight after it emerged late on Day 4 during the Barcelona shakedown run.

It is a car which former F1 driver turned pundit Martin Brundle expects to be “pretty handy” in F1 2026, though he raised some “question marks”. Brundle alleges to have been told by Newey that Honda, Aston Martin’s new engine partner, are “having to play catch-up”, while Brundle is waiting to see whether Newey has the right people and tools around him at Aston Martin just yet.

Adrian Newey and Aston Martin ‘question marks’ raised by Brundle

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One of the most hotly-anticipated machines designed to the new F1 2026 regulations, the Aston Martin AMR26 – the team’s first car crafted under F1 icon Newey – made its delayed debut on Thursday at the Barcelona shakedown, with Lance Stroll at the wheel.

The buzz was palpable, as fans and media quickly began taking a closer look at this Newey-led creation. A double-pushrod suspension was among the eye-catching features.

PlanetF1.com technical editor Matt Somerfield also confirmed that areas such as the nose, sidepods and engine cover stood out, the AMR26 a design strikingly different to most other 2026 cars to have hit the track.

This has only further turbo-charged the anticipation surrounding Aston Martin and F1 2026, as Brundle laid out some of the “question marks” which he sees hanging over Newey and the AMR26.

Asked whether Aston Martin can challenge for podiums and wins in F1 2026, Brundle told Sky F1: “Well, I hope so, for everybody’s sake, and not least Fernando Alonso.

“Adrian, his cars tend to be quite homogenous in their beautiful sort of sweeping air flow to them. You often see that with all of it, and there didn’t appear to be as many bits hanging off his cars as you do see some others.

“It’s really hard undercut on the sidepod, and we’ve seen different interpretations of sidepods, front wings across the board. Unsurprising, with such different, such new regulations.

“So, we’ve got to assume Adrian’s come up with some good ideas. But, does he know enough about the Aston Martin wind tunnel, and will he get correlation? Has he got the right people around him to interpret his brilliance? That’s a tall order, straight out of the box, actually.

“And Adrian was saying to me that Honda, they’re having to play catch-up, because they were leaving and then they came back in.

“So there’s some question marks there, and we’ll have to wait and see.

“But you just know that Adrian will have a vision of how to maximise these regulations, and let’s hope he’s done it. Let’s hope that car just flies.”

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After PlanetF1.com revealed last week that Aston Martin would miss the start of testing, Stroll rolled out onto the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in an all-black AMR26 in the final hour of Day 4.

He brought the day’s running to an early conclusion, after trackside marshals signalled him to stop over a potential electrical issue, triggering the red flag.

Fernando Alonso got his turn at the wheel on the fifth and final day.

Aston Martin may have been late to the party, but Brundle argued this to be of no concern.

“He’s also legendary for not wanting to sign things off,” Brundle said of Newey. “So when the car was late, it didn’t surprise me at all, to be honest.

“Because Adrian is always, ‘No, you don’t need to…’ The long lead times, chassis, gearboxes, radiators, and all that sort of thing. Adrian will push that, and he always has done, to the absolute limit, because he wants the maximum amount of time of development on those pieces and understanding.

“He doesn’t have that control function of a Christian Horner or a Patrick Head or whatever these days. He’s in charge of all of that.

“But you know, if it absolutely takes off, then as ever, you can say he got it absolutely right. He’s waited until the last moment before having to commit.

“But, we’ll see. We don’t know. I’m going to assume that that car will be pretty handy through the year.”

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