Guenther Steiner: Aston Martin ‘not F1 standard anymore’

Holding off on upgrades until a transformative package is complete, Aston Martin is no longer operating at “F1 standards” and this is “not acceptable.”

That is the brutal opinion expressed by former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, following a fresh blow for Aston Martin at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Aston Martin fielded the slowest package, while neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll made the chequered flag.

Aston Martin ‘not F1 standards’ in Guenther Steiner claim

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Aston Martin got off the mark in Monaco by virtue of Alonso’s P10, but there were to be no such joys for the Silverstone squad in Barcelona.

Aston Martin comfortably locked out the back row, a second slower than the Cadillacs, while Stroll and Alonso retired from the race. It was a second double DNF of the season for Aston Martin.

Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner, who served as Haas team principal between 2016-2023, issued a typically blunt take on Aston Martin’s struggles.

“Aston Martin makes even Cadillac look good, you know, and Cadillac was down three laps at the end of a race, but it made Cadillac look good,” Steiner claimed.

“What Aston Martin is doing now is just, in my opinion, not acceptable.

“It’s not F1 standards anymore. It’s like having the local guy there, you’re dead last, but by a mile, and then you don’t finish the race as well.”

Aston Martin deserves time to validate its strategy

While F1 2026 is not playing out anything like how Aston Martin and Honda had hoped for in the first year of this alliance, there is a clear mitigating circumstance behind the current plight of the AMR26.

Clearly not where the team wants to be, Adrian Newey, the Aston Martin team principal and design chief, made the call to snub smaller performance upgrades, in favour of a major package to be introduced down the line.

Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack reiterated the team’s faith in Newey and that tactic after Barcelona, even if team morale is being severely tested.

“It’s weighing on everyone,” he said of Aston Martin’s situation when speaking with 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.”

Aston Martin deserves the chance to be judged only once this major upgrade package arrives. Somewhere around the summer break has been mooted.

More on Aston Martin from PlanetF1.com

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Aston Martin defends Adrian Newey gamble as AMR26 issues run deeper

The F1 2026 development war was always expected to be fierce, and has proved to be exactly that. Any team not engaging in this with regular upgrades would feel the pain.

Sadly for Aston Martin, the team was already in a challenging predicament at the back, competing exclusively with Cadillac. Naturally, the situation therefore looks dire for Aston Martin.

But, let’s give Aston Martin the chance to validate this strategy before questioning the team’s F1 credentials.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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