Adrian Newey has made a frank admission about Aston Martin’s difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, acknowledging that the AMR26 is overweight and that he may have pushed too hard with the car’s aerodynamic direction. While the Honda power unit is currently considered the weakest in the field, Aston Martin’s own chassis has also failed to deliver the level of performance expected from the Silverstone-based team.
Newey admits Aston Martin’s problems
Only Sergio Perez’s mistake in positioning his Cadillac on the starting grid at Monaco — not once, but twice — prevented Aston Martin from being the only team still without points in the Constructors’ Championship. Fernando Alonso honestly admitted that he did not enjoy scoring that point in the Principality in such a manner, and he is now waiting for the team’s upgrade package before making a decision about his future.
At the start of the season in Melbourne, Adrian Newey had effectively placed much of the responsibility on a Honda power unit that was clearly far from competitive. However, telemetry soon showed that Aston Martin’s problems were not limited to the engine side. The car itself was also well below the level of its rivals.
The renowned aerodynamicist has now admitted as much, explaining what is currently not working on his first Aston Martin Formula 1 car.
“As far as the chassis is concerned, we are definitely above the permitted weight,” Newey said. “Part of that is due to the integration of the power unit and the need to solve the vibration problems we had to deal with together with Honda, but we also did not do a good enough job ourselves in reducing the weight. When you design in a hurry, weight is the first thing that suffers, because you do not have enough time to optimise everything properly.”
Adrian Newey also admitted that Aston Martin took a particularly aggressive route with the AMR26’s aerodynamic concept, without having enough time to properly evaluate alternative ideas before committing to that direction.
“From an aerodynamic point of view, we also followed a bold direction, largely pushed by me, without the luxury of being able to explore several concepts in depth because time was against us,” Newey added. “I would not say the direction we took is fundamentally wrong, but it created challenges that we had not anticipated.”
Those comments highlight how Aston Martin’s 2026 struggles cannot be blamed only on Honda’s power unit. The AMR26 is dealing with a combination of issues, from excess weight to unexpected aerodynamic complications, and the upcoming upgrades will need to address several weaknesses if the team wants to move away from the bottom of the Formula 1 grid.
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