Aston Martin has replaced the chassis on Lance Stroll’s AMR26 ahead of qualifying for the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix after its engineers detected unusual car behaviour that they have so far been unable to explain. The Silverstone-based team broke the overnight curfew to carry out the work on car number 18, fitting a spare chassis and submitting it to the FIA for an additional technical inspection.
The decision follows several Grands Prix in which Lance Stroll has complained about the unpredictable handling of his car. His difficulties were particularly evident during Friday’s second free practice session in Mexico, when he finished more than a second behind Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso despite the two drivers competing with the same model of car.
Aston Martin changes Lance Stroll’s AMR26 chassis before Mexico GP qualifying
Aston Martin decided on Friday evening to install a fresh chassis on Lance Stroll’s car in an attempt to resolve the problems affecting his performance. The team subsequently presented the replacement chassis to the FIA for an extraordinary technical inspection, completing the necessary procedures ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session.
The operation required Aston Martin to break the overnight curfew to reconfigure the Canadian driver’s number 18 car. Ferrari also broke the curfew during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, in its case to replace the power unit on Lewis Hamilton’s car.
For Lance Stroll, the decision represents an opportunity to turn around a difficult weekend. The chassis replacement is intended to eliminate possible underlying problems and help the Canadian regain confidence in a car whose unpredictable reactions have troubled him over recent races.
Fernando Alonso’s one-second advantage raises concerns at Aston Martin
The contrast between Aston Martin’s two drivers became particularly striking during FP2 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Fernando Alonso finished the session in 12th position, suggesting that the AMR26 was capable of competing for places in the midfield, while Lance Stroll ended the session in 20th.
More concerning for the engineering team led by Adrian Newey was the gap between the two cars. Lance Stroll finished more than one second behind the two-time Formula 1 world champion, an unusually large deficit given that the Canadian is normally considerably closer to his teammate’s performance.
The figures reinforced the suspicion that something was wrong with Stroll’s machinery rather than the difference being explained entirely by the drivers’ performances. The Mexico City Grand Prix FP2 classification showed Fernando Alonso 12th and Lance Stroll 20th, highlighting the extent of Aston Martin’s internal performance discrepancy.
Jak Crawford reports the same unpredictable Aston Martin behaviour
Further evidence supporting Lance Stroll’s concerns came from Jak Crawford, the 21-year-old American reserve driver from Charlotte who replaced the Canadian in the opening free practice session.
Jak Crawford reported similar handling characteristics to Aston Martin’s engineers, describing sudden and unpredictable reactions from the car. His feedback was particularly significant because it matched the problems Lance Stroll had been reporting over the preceding Grands Prix.
The young driver was subsequently forced to park the AMR26 because of a technical problem, bringing his running to an early conclusion. Nevertheless, his observations provided additional support for the team’s concerns about the behaviour of car number 18.
Aston Martin telemetry reveals abnormal behaviour but not its cause
One of the most interesting aspects of the situation is that Aston Martin’s engineers can identify the abnormal behaviour of Lance Stroll’s car through telemetry data. However, despite recognising that something is not functioning as expected, they have not yet been able to establish the underlying cause.
In circumstances such as these, replacing the chassis offers a practical way to eliminate one possible source of the problem. One possibility is that the original chassis could contain microscopic cracks or structural imperfections that would not be easy to identify during normal trackside inspections.
There is no confirmed diagnosis of such damage, however, and the decision to change the chassis should not be interpreted as proof that a structural defect has been discovered. Instead, the replacement allows Aston Martin to remove a potential variable while continuing its investigation into the unusual handling characteristics.
The change also has an important psychological dimension for Lance Stroll. After several races in which the car’s behaviour has compromised his performance, a fresh chassis could help restore his confidence and eliminate lingering doubts about whether the machinery is responding as it should.
Will Lance Stroll receive a grid penalty for the chassis change?
Despite the substantial overnight work carried out by Aston Martin, Lance Stroll will not receive a grid penalty for the chassis replacement at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The change was completed before qualifying, allowing the Canadian to continue his weekend without an additional starting-grid sanction resulting from the operation.
The priority for Aston Martin is now to determine whether the replacement chassis improves the AMR26’s behaviour and enables Lance Stroll to recover some of the performance he has been missing. While the telemetry has demonstrated that the car is not behaving normally, the precise explanation remains unresolved.
By fitting a fresh chassis, Aston Martin has taken a significant precautionary step to address the issue. Whether that decision resolves the Canadian driver’s difficulties will become clearer once the car returns to the circuit.
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