Aston Martin announce launch date for first F1 car designed under Adrian Newey

In a significant landmark for the Aston Martin team, the AMR26 will be unveiled on February 9, 2026, their first car designed under Adrian Newey.

Since his arrival at Aston Martin in March, legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey has been crafting the AMR26 to the revamped regulations. The team has confirmed that their new-look challenger will break cover on February 9.

Aston Martin AMR26 arrives on February 9

Aston Martin pulled off a major coup in securing the services of Newey, following his departure from Red Bull.

Having contributed to 26 world championship wins across his legendary career, Newey began work at Aston Martin in March as managing technical partner, while he was also given shares in the team. It was announced ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix that Newey till take on the role of Aston Martin team principal from F1 2026.

Fans now know when they will get their first look at the car designed under Newey for Formula 1’s new era. The AMR26 will be unveiled on February 9.

That makes Aston Martin the third team to confirm their F1 2026 launch date. First out of the blocks were Red Bull and Racing Bulls, who will launch their liveries on January 15, as part of an event in conjunction with new engine partner Ford.

Sweeping changes to both the chassis and engine regulations are on the way for F1 2026. The cars are due to become smaller and 30 kilograms lighter, with active aerodynamics on both wings replacing the Drag Reduction System [DRS].

The new engines will have triple the electrical power, while the internal combustion engine will run on fully sustainable biofuel. The increased electrical reliance is expected to make energy management a critical performance factor in the new world of Formula 1 to come.

Aston Martin heads into that challenge alongside a new engine partner in the form of Honda. A very familiar figure to the Japanese brand shall be leading the team, with Newey due to assume the team principal role from F1 2026.

Current team boss Andy Cowell will transition to the chief strategic officer role to work closely with Honda and fellow key partners. Cowell was the mastermind behind the Mercedes power unit which dominated much of the current engine formula.

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Newey explained the changes when speaking to Sky F1 at the Qatar GP.

“To be perfectly honest, it became very evident that, with the challenge of the ’26 PU, Andy’s skillset, in terms of helping the three-way relationship between Honda, Aramco and ourselves, is absolutely his skillset,” said Newey.

“So he very magnanimously volunteered to be heavily involved in that through the first part of ’26.

“And that left [the question], ‘OK, well who’s going to be TP?’

“Since I’m going to be doing all the early races anyway, it doesn’t actually particularly change my workload because I’m there anyway, so I may as well pick up that bit.”

Aston Martin will continue with the same driver line-up for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for F1 2026.

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