Aston Martin defends Adrian Newey gamble as AMR26 issues run deeper

Aston Martin has a “strong leader” in Adrian Newey. The team remains committed to holding off on upgrades until a significant breakthrough can be introduced.

That is the statement made by Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack, who admits that while this decision is challenging team morale, it is still backed as the correct one. Krack also warned of issues for Aston Martin to address which could not be cured simply by upgrades.

Aston Martin sticking to AMR26 upgrade strategy

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The F1 2026 development war is already in full force, though one team which has refrained from introducing any performance upgrades so far is Aston Martin.

In the first year of the Aston Martin-Honda alliance, the Adrian Newey-designed AMR26 has scored just the one point, courtesy of Fernando Alonso, in Monaco.

Newey made the decision to refrain from introducing small upgrades, in favour of a more revolutionary package later in the year.

But, the here and now saw Alonso and Lance Stroll lock-out the back row in Barcelona, a second off the Cadillacs. Neither Aston Martin made the chequered flag.

Krack was therefore asked how long Aston Martin can afford not bringing upgrades considering such results.

“Yeah, I agree, and it’s weighing on everyone,” he told PlanetF1.com and others.

“You can feel it. You can feel it in the garage. You can feel it especially with the drivers. We discussed it already before. It’s a very difficult situation.

“On the other hand, we have a strong leader. When the decision was made, it’s for all of us to commit to that decision, even if it’s difficult.

“It is our job to keep the motivation high, to learn as much as you can.”

Krack argues that Aston Martin is yet to fully optimise this AMR26, and that upgrades are not the silver bullet for all life’s problems.

“I think there are a lot of things that we can improve still with this car,” Krack continued.

“It would be easy to say we’ll just go in circles and wait for the upgrades. Some of the problems we have will still be there, so we need to solve them. We need to use the opportunities now to solve them, or at least get better.”

Asked to expand on the problems which he was referring to, Krack added: “Driveability, the shifting, how the whole drivetrain is reacting, the energy.

“These are all things where I think we still have a lot of work to do, and any issue that you have with these will not be solved just by putting maybe a bit more power or a bit more downforce. These problems will persist. So you have to solve that.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the hardware that needs to change, but how it all works together.”

After qualifying last for his home race, Alonso brutally branded the Aston Martin the “worst car and worst engine.”

Krack admits that “everything” needs to improve for Aston Martin.

Put to Krack that driveability did not appear to be holding Aston Martin back as significantly in Barcelona compared to recent rounds, he said: “If it was only one thing, it would be quite easy.

“Lance thought he had a problem, and it is a clear driveability issue. So I don’t think they are solved.

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“This track probably exposes them, yes, but then the track character, it cannot be more different here, actually, to Monaco. You have a lot of high-speed corners or medium-speed corners, very, very few low-speed, and in Monaco it’s the opposite, then in Monaco you struggle to make the tyres work, which here is you try to cool the tyres.

“So it’s really very, very different, but the fact that we are behind on both circuits shows you that I think it’s all areas that we have to work on.”

Aston Martin sits 10th in the Constructors’ standings ahead only of Cadillac.

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