F1 – The decline of Aston Martin: from podiums to last place
In 2023, the team led by Lawrence Stroll looked like a future top team. Today, however, it finds itself at the very back of the Formula 1 grid.
Aston Martin’s testing phase and the first three races of the 2026 season have been nothing short of a disaster. The F1 team that has expanded its facilities more aggressively than almost any other in recent years is failing to deliver on the extremely high expectations tied to such a grand and ambitious project.
The trajectory of the team since the takeover by current owner Lawrence Stroll has included several very high points. From Lance Stroll’s surprising pole position in Turkey in 2020—an event expected to return to the calendar next year—to Sergio Pérez’s victory in the same season when the team was still known as Racing Point. Later, after becoming Aston Martin, came Sebastian Vettel’s podium in 2021 and Fernando Alonso’s remarkable performances in 2023.
However, these highlights have been mixed with a large number of anonymous races, as well as a two-year period in which the team has not come close to the level it reached in 2023. The resources are there, as are the qualified personnel, but one key ingredient is missing: cohesion.
Aston Martin 2023: a dream coming true?
To properly understand the current situation, it is necessary to go back to the team’s strongest period: 2023. Fernando Alonso joined the team, replacing Sebastian Vettel, arriving with huge motivation and a strong desire to bounce back after two mediocre seasons at Alpine.
Lawrence Stroll invested heavily in the project, with the main objective being to rebuild after a disappointing 2022 campaign, following a relatively positive 2021 season. This led to the creation of the AMR23, still to this day the last Aston Martin car to secure a podium for the Spanish driver.
Pre-season testing immediately raised expectations. Thanks to clever technical approaches—often described as “taking inspiration” from leading teams—the car emerged as one of the most competitive on the grid. Fernando Alonso instantly recognized the opportunity and did not let it slip away. A third-place finish at the opening round in Bahrain marked the beginning of something potentially big: an aggressive and highly motivated Alonso combined with a competitive car created the perfect recipe for success. Lance Stroll also delivered strong results, suggesting that Aston Martin had found the right direction.
However, the dream did not last long. From mid-season onwards, the team’s performance began to decline steadily. Every upgrade and development introduced to the car appeared to worsen performance rather than improve it, suggesting a lack of integration within the overall project. The team seemed to lose its direction after early success.
Alonso still managed to claim a surprising final podium in Brazil, but overall the team’s performance had dropped significantly. Furthermore, in 2023 it was also announced that Aston Martin would begin a new works partnership with Honda starting from 2026.
Aston Martin 2026: high expectations, high disappointment
With the major regulatory changes and the upcoming collaboration with Honda as a power unit supplier, 2026 was supposed to be Aston Martin’s breakthrough year. Throughout 2025, Fernando Alonso repeatedly said the same thing in interviews: “I can’t wait for next year.”
But 2026 arrived, and from January it already became clear that the so-called “perfect project” was heading in the wrong direction. The team arrived late for the Barcelona shakedown and completed very few laps. In Bahrain, the situation worsened further, with major reliability issues and extreme vibrations caused by the Honda power unit.
The first three races of the season confirmed the trend: Aston Martin is currently the slowest team on the grid, even behind Cadillac. The car suffers from very limited internal combustion engine performance, excessive vibrations, and an aerodynamically extreme design that may simply be too aggressive.
The pairing of Adrian Newey and Fernando Alonso was supposed to represent a perfect combination, but expectations have collapsed alongside the project itself. What is missing is cohesion and internal collaboration. Famous names alone are not enough to lift a team to the top of the standings, and the start of this season is clear evidence of that.
The negative trend that began in mid-2023 continues without interruption: a reset is required. The ADUO will certainly be a major help for Aston Martin, but the 2026 season will still be remembered as a major disappointment for the team and its ambitions.
The current struggles at Aston Martin therefore highlight the immense difficulty of integrating new technical partnerships and star talent during a major regulatory shift. As the 2026 season progresses, the team must find a way to foster internal cohesion and solve their reliability woes if they hope to climb back from the bottom of the standings. This difficult start serves as a reminder that in Formula 1, resources and reputation are only as good as the performance they produce on the track.
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