The year 2026 will be a turning point for Aston Martin, facing the biggest regulation change in the last 25 years in its new role as a constructor team. The Silverstone outfit will benefit from an exclusive collaboration with Honda, abandoning Mercedes power units. This transformation is not simple and comes with other important changes, including in-house transmission development, a project personally overseen by Engineering Director Luca Furbatto. FormulaPassion met the Italian engineer during the recent Spanish Grand Prix to explore these and many other topics.
The new regulations
Like its competitors, Aston Martin is working hard on the 2026 regulations. It is a real revolution, which Furbatto stresses has enormous scope: “It is a regulation change that concerns both the power unit and aerodynamics. In the last 25 years, there has never been one this big because at least one of the two areas remained stable. It is very likely that scenarios will arise where some will get the concept right and others won’t, creating large gaps between cars.”
“Aerodynamically, it returns to a regulation closer to 2021, with a flat floor, simply put,” explains Luca Furbatto. “The regulations offer quite a bit of freedom on the front part of the floor, with different shapes allowed to keep the turbulence from the front wheels close to the car. The focus of the regulations is more on the power unit, whose evolution will have a scope similar to that of 2014, with the hybrid part becoming much more important. However, I believe aerodynamically the car will be easier to manage compared to the current generation.”
During the press conference presenting his arrival at the team last autumn, Adrian Newey warned that in 2026 integration between engine and chassis would be more important than ever. Furbatto agrees: “Yes, we already saw that in 2014 with the arrival of hybrid power units. The fact that the battery and generally the electric part become larger means that the internal packaging is crucial. This is one of the reasons Aston Martin decided to collaborate with Honda because if we want to make a performance leap we must be an official team, not a customer, and control our own destiny.”
The challenges of 2026
The Italian engineer envisions a generation of cars where engine needs will dictate aerodynamic concepts: “The 2026 regulation has been public since 2024, but I don’t think it is easy to understand even for the most passionate fans. In short, it is a formula where energy management is fundamental. Aerodynamics must work in symbiosis with the powertrain to achieve the lowest lap time. Until 2025, movable wings have mainly been used for overtaking, but from next year they will be an integral part of energy management. Trends seen in recent years on efficiency will change because the wing openings will provide much greater drag and downforce reduction than now. It will be a system about three times more powerful than the current DRS.”
“There are tracks where energy recharge will not be a problem, like Singapore and Monaco, and others where it will be very difficult, such as Monza and Jeddah. Unlike 2025, if the battery energy is insufficient to power the MGU-K, you would lose about 450 horsepower of electric power and go very slowly on the straights. For this reason, on paper, Monza will no longer be the Temple of Speed. It will be a very different F1 from what we are used to, an engineering challenge different but equally stimulating.”
Battery management will be a central aspect in 2026 that will influence designers’ choices. According to Luca Furbatto, however, another important topic remains underrated by the public: “The whole area of sustainable fuels is an absolute novelty. At the moment there is a lot of discussion about the high costs of these products, inevitable since they are new. I expect costs to decrease over time because sustainable fuels are the future, as long as Formula 1 has an internal combustion engine.”
From customer to constructor
For the team, 2026 will also mark the switch from Mercedes power units to Honda units, a decision made in 2023. Since then Luca Furbatto has undertaken engineering work to transfer medium and long-term projects: “When you change engine supplier, as in our case, you also have to produce the gearbox, hydraulic system, rear crash structure, and rear suspension. These are all medium- and long-term projects: the transmission alone requires several years of development. These are activities I have personally followed along with my team. The gearbox is a challenging project but not the only one. Integration with Honda also requires strong synergies.”
The workload is considerable and the absorbed resources have influenced recent seasons, but the exclusive collaboration with a manufacturer opens new design opportunities: “We are much freer. For example, we have the Mercedes gearbox, which is very good, but its dimensions and packaging are dictated by them. Basically, we are users, while from 2026 we will decide the dimensions that interest us and these will go hand in hand with the car’s architecture.”
The Italian engineer is convinced: “If you want to win, you cannot manage only half the car; you must control the entire vehicle concept.” From this point of view, the awarding of the last constructors’ title is a partial exception: “McLaren won the Constructors’ Championship as a customer team, but only regarding the engine, which by regulation is identical to the official Mercedes team’s, while the gearbox is made in-house. McLaren benefits from an official power unit with the ability to develop the car independently. I think that is a great compromise for them.”
The role of the suspensions
Developing the gearbox internally will also allow building the rear suspension in-house. Regarding this, Mercedes had issues making the new suspension introduced at Imola work, while Ferrari also faced some difficulties in the same area. “It’s hard to comment on what happens at other teams,” reflects Furbatto. “Personally, I find it hard to believe there is something wrong with the suspension kinematics themselves; the problems probably come from how it interacts with the rest of the aerodynamics.”
“The suspension layout is not a performance element in itself, also because vibrations are now minimal and just a few millimeters, but it is chosen based on the aerodynamic philosophy you want to achieve. The arrangement of the arms and levers is a very important aerodynamic factor. Already in the first year, we saw very clear trends, for example on the front with arms that slope downwards. From past experience, however, if you switch from pushrod to pullrod, there is very little change in the arms. The upright or tie rod are quite neutral in terms of kinematics, less so in other aspects such as compliance and engine cooling.”
Ups and downs
The second era of ground effect F1 cars is coming to an end, a technical cycle in which Aston Martin has shone sporadically: “In 2023 we were in the second year of this regulation and it was still relatively immature. Probably at the time, we guessed a series of characteristics that suited our drivers very well. When development became more sophisticated, the usable window narrowed, and we had some difficulties linked to the tools we had then. This year, however, after fitting the update package at Imola, we made Q3 three times in a row. I think we have reversed the trend and this is a very positive sign.”
The hope is that the May upgrade package will restore the team’s confidence in simulation tools after many updates that did not deliver expected results: “This applies to us as well as other teams: when you install upgrades on the car, only on track do you actually discover how good the package is. It is something intrinsic to this regulation, linked to the fact that the cars are constantly scraping the ground. Only the driver can fully assess the balance, on which their confidence in the car depends. Not even an accurate simulator guarantees the same fidelity as reality. Sometimes you develop something, but on track you don’t see the expected performance, so you revert.”
The growth of Aston Martin
Ground effect regulations have framed an important transformation of the British team. “Aston Martin has changed a lot from 2021 to today,” reflects Furbatto. “We were a small team still based on the Jordan structures, but now we have a beautiful and cutting-edge facility. We have invested heavily in infrastructure to become the top team we want to be. Maybe it’s not appreciated from the outside, but when you build a wind tunnel and, in general, a whole range of simulation tools, dynamic rigs, and dedicated buildings, it’s not that everything works perfectly as soon as you switch them on. There is an introduction phase of correlation that absorbs time and resources, which for us started mid-2023 and ended early 2025.”
An example is the installation of new dynamic rigs, but not only that: “Returning to the example of the transmission: we did not have a design group or an assembly area for the gearbox and we had to set them up. We had no test benches and had to commission them. Then we had to find expertise to do the same for hydraulics and so on for all the new areas that from 2026 will be our responsibility. These are medium-term projects that require attention, diverting it from on-track car development, also being constrained by the budget cap. I recall that within the budget cap there is no mechanism that allows a team, like ours or Audi-Sauber, to evolve from a customer team to a constructor. It all has to happen within the spending limit. This year we are paying twice for the transmission: the one we buy from Mercedes and the one we are developing for 2026. It’s not a system that favors change, but we accept it as it is and try to operate within the imposed limits.”
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