Aston Martin faces Melbourne unknown as Brundle issues ‘dire trouble’ warning – round-up

Jamie Woodhouse 02 Mar 2026 9:00 PM

Fernando Alonso driving the Aston Martin AMR26

The Australian Grand Prix is moving closer into view, and Aston Martin finds itself featuring prominently among the latest F1 news headlines.

Aston Martin heads into the unknown at Albert Park, its race weekend to be shaped by Honda’s reliability fix. Martin Brundle meanwhile sees a challenging road ahead for Aston Martin and Honda. All of this and more, so let’s get to it.

Aston Martin must see how Melbourne unfolds

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Sensationalist claims did the rounds suggesting that Aston Martin would treat the first race weekend as a box-ticking exercise, performing the bare minimum of laps in each session, and even pulling its cars into the garage following the formation lap on Sunday.

PlanetF1.com understands the picture isn’t quite as draconian as that, but the first few races for Aston Martin do hinge on the success of Honda’s solution for its vibration issue.

Brundle in ‘dire trouble’ Aston Martin and Honda warning

From what Brundle has observed, he deems it “clear” that the correlation between virtual and on-track is “miles off” for Aston Martin.

He does not doubt that Aston Martin and Honda has the smarts to turn things around, but, he sees a situation of “dire trouble” going into Melbourne.

PlanetF1.com’s F1 2026 predictions are in

Making season predictions before a wheel has been turned is a tricky business. That can be turned up a notch or two when considering revamped chassis and engine rules are in place for F1 2026.

But, we have given it a go. Picking a World Champion, settling some key intra-team battles, and calling a driver move for next year, feature among the topics.

Formula 1’s realistic alternative races

If Formula 1 is forced to abandon its Middle East double-header of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, who could step in at the eleventh hour?

Imola, Portimão and Istanbul are among the possibilities as PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher takes a closer look.

Mick Schumacher makes IndyCar debut as F1 door ruled closed

Mick Schumacher had anything but the fairytale start he had hoped for in IndyCar as, through no fault of his own, he was caught up in a crash on the opening lap in St. Petersburg.

His uncle Ralf, meanwhile, has declared the door back into Formula 1 closed for Mick.

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