2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[TyreSlip]

I would have been happy for the Astons to compete with the Haas today, but the Aston clearly had better tire deg than them. It was amazing to be close with the Alpines.

It is time for Honda to do their part and help Aston fight the Audis and Racing Bulls now.

[diffuser]

Our season has finally started!!

What I liked most: there are no cooling problems, apparently no vibrations, and the car treats the tires well. The latter, something I consider very important, still has to be tested with a more powerful engine. I didn’t quite understand ALO’s last tire change, I’ll just consider it some test they wanted to do.

They asked Alonso, "Do you want to stop for a pair of used softs under the VSP?" Alonso replied, "Yes, yes."

He kind of complained about the length of the first stint, but then said, "I don't know—you guys see the data." He's probably complained about similar calls in the past, and the team later showed him the data that explained the decision.

At a track like Hungary, you need a significant lap-time advantage to be able to pass the car in front. Since the AMR26B doesn't yet have the top speed down the back straight, it can only make passes by being more agile. A larger tire-performance advantage, combined with the AMR26B's newfound aerodynamic improvements, gives it that agility.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but after Alonso switched to the mediums and passed the two cars ahead of him, Hülkenberg and Gasly quickly realized how fast Alonso was and pitted to cover him off. They were worried that if they waited too long, they'd end up behind him.

[zoroastar]

dont wanna sound tin foil hat but is there any other excuse to run that strategy except to help lance run closer to alonso? honest question. not that it matters points wise, but alonso wasnt too happy about it. they ran so long on the softs that lance deleted a 15 second deficit in 10 laps

[diffuser]

I know that.. they have been doing these kind of strategies for a while. Lance will start way back of Alonso, stop early and do probably the faster 2stopper. Meanwhile Alonso will stay out for far too long and eventually be asked to move. Happened countless times.

BTW, they changed the strategy team last year. so it isn't the same "They" as before. Since they changed the team and they still come up with bad strategies in your opinion. The problem must be you who doesn't understand.


The idea is Alonso is trying to get in the points, So his strategy is against the cars in front. He's positioning himself to get ahead of the cars in front. It's easier when you in the top teen position to get clean air by going long. At Hungry a 2 stop and a 3 stop(if you find clean air) are pretty close. It's just easier for Stroll to find clean air when the cars that were ahead of him are as lower that the AMR26B.

[zoroastar]

I would have been happy for the Astons to compete with the Haas today, but the Aston clearly had better tire deg than them. It was amazing to be close with the Alpines.

It is time for Honda to do their part and help Aston fight the Audis and Racing Bulls now.

yeah dude, the car seems to be good on the tires. hopefully thats another positive from these upgrades going forward

[SSJ4]

De la Rosa saying new engine which we knew already and with further weight reduction for zandvoort.

[F1RAM]

I know that.. they have been doing these kind of strategies for a while. Lance will start way back of Alonso, stop early and do probably the faster 2stopper. Meanwhile Alonso will stay out for far too long and eventually be asked to move. Happened countless times.

BTW, they changed the strategy team last year. so it isn't the same "They" as before. Since they changed the team and they still come up with bad strategies in your opinion. The problem must be you who doesn't understand.


The idea is Alonso is trying to get in the points, So his strategy is against the cars in front. He's positioning himself to get ahead of the cars in front. It's easier when you in the top teen position to get clean air by going long. At Hungry a 2 stop and a 3 stop(if you find clean air) are pretty close. It's just easier for Stroll to find clean air when the cars that were ahead of him are as lower that the AMR26B.

Lmao yeah... Alonso was trying to get into points!! Was there even a realistic chance when he was losing time getting lapped and others stopped for fresh tires!! Then came behind Sainz, bearman and had to divebomb to get past them, losing more time.

He was asking on radio many times after lap25! about the race overview. And why did Alonso himself complain about the strategy after the race?? Now he must be the problem according to you!!

Weekend was very good...but you have to call a spade, a spade. Strategy wws bad. When/if they fight for points, what will be the excuse then!! There will be no place to hide.

[F1RAM]

dont wanna sound tin foil hat but is there any other excuse to run that strategy except to help lance run closer to alonso? honest question. not that it matters points wise, but alonso wasnt too happy about it. they ran so long on the softs that lance deleted a 15 second deficit in 10 laps

Everyone can see this... this has been going on for a while regardless of the strategy team. I remember Vettel fans creating memes in 2023 about the fkd up strategies.

[Sedaxel]

Bad strategy but... Actually, there was nothing to gain, points were out of reach. So I think Alo doesn't care too much.

The important thing is that the improvement is solid. More than it's in qualy, I think. Clearly faster than Williams and Haas. Slower than alpine, though.

I think it's a fantastic upgrade, and even more if we think it's a lot to improve from here.

[Kamel]

Guys, I am at least glad that both cars were able to finish the entire distance.
Honda, find a 70 HP, i beg u.

[gearboxtrouble]

About as good a weekend as could have been hoped. The engine doesn't matter around here but they'll need Honda to find at least 30hp to stay in this position fighting the Haas and Williams after the break. If the future upgrades unlock more performance I could see Aston ending the season fighting for a point or two on merit at certain tracks.

[F1RAM]

About as good a weekend as could have been hoped. The engine doesn't matter around here but they'll need Honda to find at least 30hp to stay in this position fighting the Haas and Williams after the break. If the future upgrades unlock more performance I could see Aston ending the season fighting for a point or two on merit at certain tracks.

If the gap is like 90-100hp.. 40-50hp is achievable just coz of how bad they were. + some aero upgrades at Zandv and weight reduction as well.
Monza upgrade could be circuit specific low drag ones.. then Baku ones could be the final updates.
Others would be bringing updates as well like Alpine.. so need all the updates to fight for points.

[avada]

Why does it have to start with failures all the time??? Look at Audi and RBPT. New engine manufacturers, doing exceptionally well from the get go.

RBPT hired ex Honda F1 and Mercedes F1 engineers when Honda said they were leaving...
RBPT and Audi had been working on PU development much longer than the current Honda PU team.
All PU teams have had PU issues, dnf's including DNS's. Honda will catch up, but they don't need the most powerful PU if chassis/aero/tyre/fuel window is optimum. There's a lot of players in a team and making sure it's a team

People should stop repeating this nonsense. No-one from engine design came from Sakura to the UK.

[F1RAM]

About as good a weekend as could have been hoped. The engine doesn't matter around here but they'll need Honda to find at least 30hp to stay in this position fighting the Haas and Williams after the break. If the future upgrades unlock more performance I could see Aston ending the season fighting for a point or two on merit at certain tracks.

It does matter tho.. Alonso had to send two dive bombs on Sainz and Bearman at T1 on new tyres to get by, on exit they even came back ahead just coz of the engine.

With a better engine... what could have been possible, open to imagination.

[gearboxtrouble]

I very much doubt the gap is 90-100 hp. I suspect they are around 60-70 off on peak power with the rest of the deficit coming from harvesting limitations due to the integration and gearbox problems. A realistic upper limit for what is possible at Zandvoort is they close the gap to where Ferrari and Audi were in terms of overall performance at Melbourne. There is near zero chance they can find enough to get near the Mercedes and RBPT engines.They will likely still have the weakest engine for all of 2026 but if they can at least be situationally competitive they can start to think about challenging the front of the midfield in 2027.