1 hr. ago
Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey insists he is "pretty confident" that Fernando Alonso will extend his time with the team beyond this season.
Alonso, the 45-year-old two-time world champion, has stated he will decide his future over the summer break and is contemplating retiring from Formula 1 after more than two decades in the sport.
Aston, with new engine partners Honda, have endured a horrendous start to the 2026 season, with safety concerns, car reliability and all-out speed among a myriad of issues for a team who were hoping to be challenging at the top this year. Instead, they are the slowest team alongside Cadillac at the rear of the field.
Yet F1 design guru Newey, who has been tasked with turning Aston's fortunes around, believes Alonso will persevere with the outfit and drive for the team beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the season.
"I mean, obviously Fernando's an amazing driver, brings huge amounts to the team, both in his feedback and his ability," Newey said.
#newey #season
Alonso, the 45-year-old two-time world champion, has stated he will decide his future over the summer break and is contemplating retiring from Formula 1 after more than two decades in the sport.
Aston, with new engine partners Honda, have endured a horrendous start to the 2026 season, with safety concerns, car reliability and all-out speed among a myriad of issues for a team who were hoping to be challenging at the top this year. Instead, they are the slowest team alongside Cadillac at the rear of the field.
Yet F1 design guru Newey, who has been tasked with turning Aston's fortunes around, believes Alonso will persevere with the outfit and drive for the team beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the season.
"I mean, obviously Fernando's an amazing driver, brings huge amounts to the team, both in his feedback and his ability," Newey said.
#newey #season
2 days ago
A Wolverhampton Wanderers' fan group has launched a special shirt to mark the club's 150th anniversary season.
Four friends who are part of Old Gold Pack said they spent months bringing their concept to life to mark the anniversary in 2027 and although it had been a lot of work, it was "an absolute joy to get it done".
The majority of the profits from the sale of the shirt are to be donated to Wolverhampton hospice charity Compton Care.
Kieran Newey from the group said to see fans wearing the shirt as the new season kicks off will be "crazy".
"We've always been really big fans of football culture and we'd always talked about designing a football shirt," he said.
#group #anniversary #Football
Four friends who are part of Old Gold Pack said they spent months bringing their concept to life to mark the anniversary in 2027 and although it had been a lot of work, it was "an absolute joy to get it done".
The majority of the profits from the sale of the shirt are to be donated to Wolverhampton hospice charity Compton Care.
Kieran Newey from the group said to see fans wearing the shirt as the new season kicks off will be "crazy".
"We've always been really big fans of football culture and we'd always talked about designing a football shirt," he said.
#group #anniversary #Football
11 days ago
Call it a B-spec, call it a heavily revised AMR26, call it whatever you want – what Aston Martin rolled out at the Hungaroring for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix is, by any reasonable engineering standard, a new Formula 1 car. Sixteen separate components were declared upgraded, mechanics broke FIA curfew to get both cars fitted in time, and the team reportedly flew spare parts to Budapest just to guarantee Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could each run the full package. That is not a development update. That is a rebuild.
The backstory is by now well-documented and not particularly flattering. Adrian Newey didn't get serious work underway on the AMR26 until mid-March 2025, and the wind tunnel didn't see a model until mid-April – three months behind rivals who were already deep into the new regulatory cycle. The car that arrived at pre-season testing in Barcelona was overweight, paddock insiders estimated by somewhere between 10 and 15 kilograms, maybe more, and the Honda power unit was generating vibrations severe enough to rattle onboard cameras loose and leave Alonso and Stroll visibly fighting the steering wheel.
At the Australian opener, Alonso qualified 2.462 seconds off the pace. Both cars retired when the vibrations damaged the battery systems. It went largely sideways from there – one point across the opening ten rounds, tenth of eleven teams in the constructors' standings, behind only the expansion Cadillac outfit.
The nose is the clearest sign of how deep the changes go. Where the original AMR26 carried a wide, blunt front structure, the Hungary version features a noticeably thinner, more tapered profile – the kind of slender nose Newey has favoured since his early Red Bull years. That change alone cascades through the entire front end: new uprights, revised aerodynamic ducting, changed actuator mounting, and a completely reworked front wing with reshaped endplates. Per Newey, the forward section of the chassis was lightened to the point that it required a full re-homologation and fresh crash testing – which, depending on your definition, crosses the threshold from upgrade to new car.
Newey himself occupies both sides of that argument simultaneously. "The main structural elements remain the same – the chassis and gearbox architecture don't fundamentally change – but we've taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis," he said. So: same architecture, new crash test. Make of that what you will.
#call #stroll
The backstory is by now well-documented and not particularly flattering. Adrian Newey didn't get serious work underway on the AMR26 until mid-March 2025, and the wind tunnel didn't see a model until mid-April – three months behind rivals who were already deep into the new regulatory cycle. The car that arrived at pre-season testing in Barcelona was overweight, paddock insiders estimated by somewhere between 10 and 15 kilograms, maybe more, and the Honda power unit was generating vibrations severe enough to rattle onboard cameras loose and leave Alonso and Stroll visibly fighting the steering wheel.
At the Australian opener, Alonso qualified 2.462 seconds off the pace. Both cars retired when the vibrations damaged the battery systems. It went largely sideways from there – one point across the opening ten rounds, tenth of eleven teams in the constructors' standings, behind only the expansion Cadillac outfit.
The nose is the clearest sign of how deep the changes go. Where the original AMR26 carried a wide, blunt front structure, the Hungary version features a noticeably thinner, more tapered profile – the kind of slender nose Newey has favoured since his early Red Bull years. That change alone cascades through the entire front end: new uprights, revised aerodynamic ducting, changed actuator mounting, and a completely reworked front wing with reshaped endplates. Per Newey, the forward section of the chassis was lightened to the point that it required a full re-homologation and fresh crash testing – which, depending on your definition, crosses the threshold from upgrade to new car.
Newey himself occupies both sides of that argument simultaneously. "The main structural elements remain the same – the chassis and gearbox architecture don't fundamentally change – but we've taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis," he said. So: same architecture, new crash test. Make of that what you will.
#call #stroll
12 days ago
Former IndyCar Series driver and F1 TV pundit James Hinchcliffe has argued that Aston Martin's highly anticipated upgrade package at the Hungarian Grand Prix should not be judged solely on its immediate pace, warning that the team will need time to maximise the changes.
Ahead of the final race before Formula 1's summer break, the Silverstone outfit is debuting a massive upgrade package at the Hungaroring. Aston Martin opted against introducing incremental changes, instead choosing to target Hungary to essentially bring a B-spec car.
Speaking on F1 TV's Weekend Warm-Up, Hinchcliffe discussed the pressure on the Adrian Newey-led squad to deliver a result.
"Yes, there's a lot of pressure, certainly. They've made a bold choice. I've never seen anything quite like it in Formula 1 to just sit on the car as is and have everything come in one go," Hinchcliffe explained.
"And there's just going to be so much hope, so much anticipation for this weekend that it all works. Now remember, just because you bolted it onto the car today doesn't mean you've maximised the package today.
#hinchcliffe #formula #much
Ahead of the final race before Formula 1's summer break, the Silverstone outfit is debuting a massive upgrade package at the Hungaroring. Aston Martin opted against introducing incremental changes, instead choosing to target Hungary to essentially bring a B-spec car.
Speaking on F1 TV's Weekend Warm-Up, Hinchcliffe discussed the pressure on the Adrian Newey-led squad to deliver a result.
"Yes, there's a lot of pressure, certainly. They've made a bold choice. I've never seen anything quite like it in Formula 1 to just sit on the car as is and have everything come in one go," Hinchcliffe explained.
"And there's just going to be so much hope, so much anticipation for this weekend that it all works. Now remember, just because you bolted it onto the car today doesn't mean you've maximised the package today.
#hinchcliffe #formula #much
1 month ago
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll propped up the field in sprint qualifying at Silverstone on Saturday, finishing 21st and 22nd respectively – more than 3.5 seconds adrift of Lewis Hamilton‘s pole-setting Ferrari. For most teams, that would be a crisis. For Aston Martin right now, it was almost beside the point.
Adrian Newey spoke to Sky Sports F1 on the sprint grid and made no attempt to dress up where the team stands. The AMR26 has scored a single championship point across eight rounds in 2026, and the car that arrived at Silverstone is not the car the team believes it can build. Newey’s message was straightforward: don’t judge us yet. “A first phase of upgrades will arrive for Hungary and another one along with the Honda engine in Zandvoort,” he said.
The package Newey has been building toward is substantial. Per his own description to Sky Sports, the team has re-homologated and crash-tested a revised forward chassis after extracting meaningful weight from it, developed a new nose, and substantially reworked the aerodynamic surfaces. The rear suspension has been revised, though the core structure – gearbox architecture and chassis fundamentals – stays in place. Newey described it as “a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction.”
One race later at Zandvoort, Honda brings its sole permitted mid-season power unit upgrade, targeting combustion chamber and pre-chamber improvements according to Honda’s general trackside manager Shintaro Orihara. The FIA’s ADUO regulations allow Honda two upgrades this season, and the Zandvoort unit represents their only mid-season token.
The decision to bank everything on a single large Hungary package rather than drip-feed incremental updates was, in Newey’s words, “painful but correct.” While that call has left Aston Martin getting eclipsed even by Cadillac – a team that didn’t exist in F1 twelve months ago – he argues the long-term logic holds.
Adrian Newey spoke to Sky Sports F1 on the sprint grid and made no attempt to dress up where the team stands. The AMR26 has scored a single championship point across eight rounds in 2026, and the car that arrived at Silverstone is not the car the team believes it can build. Newey’s message was straightforward: don’t judge us yet. “A first phase of upgrades will arrive for Hungary and another one along with the Honda engine in Zandvoort,” he said.
The package Newey has been building toward is substantial. Per his own description to Sky Sports, the team has re-homologated and crash-tested a revised forward chassis after extracting meaningful weight from it, developed a new nose, and substantially reworked the aerodynamic surfaces. The rear suspension has been revised, though the core structure – gearbox architecture and chassis fundamentals – stays in place. Newey described it as “a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction.”
One race later at Zandvoort, Honda brings its sole permitted mid-season power unit upgrade, targeting combustion chamber and pre-chamber improvements according to Honda’s general trackside manager Shintaro Orihara. The FIA’s ADUO regulations allow Honda two upgrades this season, and the Zandvoort unit represents their only mid-season token.
The decision to bank everything on a single large Hungary package rather than drip-feed incremental updates was, in Newey’s words, “painful but correct.” While that call has left Aston Martin getting eclipsed even by Cadillac – a team that didn’t exist in F1 twelve months ago – he argues the long-term logic holds.
1 month ago
Let’s be real for a second—remember when Aston Martin looked like absolute world-beaters back in 2023? Fernando Alonso was racking up podiums, the hype train was running at full steam, and it felt like the Silverstone squad had finally cracked the code. Fast forward to 2026, and that dream has turned into a bit of a nightmare. The team has been struggling massively under the new regulations, but Lance Stroll just dropped some heavy hints that the entire garage is holding its breath for one man to save the day.
According to a tweet from F1 commentator Nachez, which highlights a report from Shiga Sports **** an, Stroll made some incredibly telling comments while in Barcelona. It sounds like Aston Martin is throwing all their eggs into the Adrian Newey basket, and honestly, can you blame them?
We all know Newey is the absolute undisputed aerodynamic wizard of the F1 paddock, having won a ridiculous number of championships during his time at Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull. When he jumped ship to become Aston Martin’s technical boss for 2026, the expectations naturally skyrocketed.
Stroll didn’t hold back when talking about his new boss, bluntly stating, “Newey is the most successful person in F1 history. That’s why the entire team is eagerly awaiting this upgrade.”
It’s pretty rare to hear a driver admit so openly that the current car is basically just a high-speed waiting room for a specific engineer’s updates to arrive. But considering the AMR26 has been an absolute handful this season, it makes perfect sense that the garage is desperate for Newey to finally wave his magic wand.
According to a tweet from F1 commentator Nachez, which highlights a report from Shiga Sports **** an, Stroll made some incredibly telling comments while in Barcelona. It sounds like Aston Martin is throwing all their eggs into the Adrian Newey basket, and honestly, can you blame them?
We all know Newey is the absolute undisputed aerodynamic wizard of the F1 paddock, having won a ridiculous number of championships during his time at Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull. When he jumped ship to become Aston Martin’s technical boss for 2026, the expectations naturally skyrocketed.
Stroll didn’t hold back when talking about his new boss, bluntly stating, “Newey is the most successful person in F1 history. That’s why the entire team is eagerly awaiting this upgrade.”
It’s pretty rare to hear a driver admit so openly that the current car is basically just a high-speed waiting room for a specific engineer’s updates to arrive. But considering the AMR26 has been an absolute handful this season, it makes perfect sense that the garage is desperate for Newey to finally wave his magic wand.
1 month ago
There's no competition for the "worst surprise" award of the 2026 Formula 1 season start, as Aston Martin - despite all the hype around Adrian Newey joining the team and leading it into the new era - sits second from last in the constructors' championship after seven rounds.
With one point on the board, it is only ahead of Cadillac, the completely new project that was expected to struggle in its first season.
Aston Martin's results are way off pre-season expectations. With multiple high-profile hires, brand-new facilities at Silverstone and, crucially, Newey coming on board last spring, the team was supposed to be on the way up. Yet the AMR26 is clearly one of the slowest cars on the grid.
While it is difficult to determine whether this year's struggles are solely the result of Honda failing to deliver a competitive engine, it's impossible to judge whether the Newey-led technical team shares at least some responsibility for the disappointing start to the season.
Having qualified last in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso said such results are not surprising for him, as Aston Martin has "the worst car and the worst engine" in F1.
With one point on the board, it is only ahead of Cadillac, the completely new project that was expected to struggle in its first season.
Aston Martin's results are way off pre-season expectations. With multiple high-profile hires, brand-new facilities at Silverstone and, crucially, Newey coming on board last spring, the team was supposed to be on the way up. Yet the AMR26 is clearly one of the slowest cars on the grid.
While it is difficult to determine whether this year's struggles are solely the result of Honda failing to deliver a competitive engine, it's impossible to judge whether the Newey-led technical team shares at least some responsibility for the disappointing start to the season.
Having qualified last in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso said such results are not surprising for him, as Aston Martin has "the worst car and the worst engine" in F1.
