Aston Martin’s “horror show” at the start of the 2026 season is unlikely to be resolved fully for some time, says Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle.
The team have endured a nightmare start to F1’s new era of rules despite the huge promise that accompanied the signing of design genius Adrian Newey and becoming Honda’s new works engine partner.
Along with new entrant Cadillac, whose position at the back of the field at the start of the season had always been expected, Aston Martin have failed to come close to scoring a point in the year’s three race weekends with Fernando Alonso’s 18th-place finish last time out in Japan the only time either of their cars has completed a full Grand Prix so far.
Having qualified together on the back row at Suzuka four seconds off the leading pace, Lance Stroll quipped after the race that he and his Spanish team-mate were having fun in “our own Aston Martin championship”, a comment that underlined the team’s current plight and the work ahead to move back up the grid.
“That’s painful, isn’t it, really? That’s sort of salt in the wounds, almost,” said Brundle on the latest edition of The F1 Show podcast.
“It’s a nightmare, whichever way you look at it, they’ve got neither speed nor reliability. And in the days of relentless Formula 1 championship calendars and cost caps, it’s going to be very difficult to turn that around in the time, and they’ve got to work out what to do first.
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Despite clear problems with the car, Fernando Alonso is confident Aston Martin will resolve their difficulties and improve
“They’ve got to get the right people in at Honda, get the right direction. It’s not going to improve until 2027. It’s a horror show, and we’re just going to have to observe that pain.
“Of course, they will improve it to an extent, but they’re missing three, four seconds sometimes per lap. I mean, that’s like a different category they’re in at the moment to the front runners. So, watch this space, but it’ll be a while.”
Aston Martin and Honda have both said they are working hard to improve their package, with a cure for the engine vibrations that have caused reliability problems and limited drivers’ early-season mileage among the immediate priorities for F1’s return at the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.
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Adrian Newey explained how the vibration and battery issues are impacting Aston Martin
Amid ongoing development of the AMR26 chassis, which Newey is confident has promise once further upgrade packages are added and the power-unit performance improves, Honda are also set to get catch-up upgrade opportunities under the terms of the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) rules for 2026.
Speaking on the same podcast as Brundle, fellow Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft said: “To get to the end of a race [in Japan] was amazing for them, to be fair, but that’s a long-term project.
“That is a long-term project to put right the issues that weren’t picked up early enough. And I think people took their eye off the ball a little bit on all sides of that project.
“I’d said Silverstone for a B-spec car, that’s more likely to be Spa for a B-spec car. A power unit that will need a lot of work and fine-tuning and will probably come back after the Christmas break better off for it.
“But they are going to struggle all season until the chassis can accommodate the power unit, the power unit can stop vibrating so much.
“Can I see them scoring a point? Not unless 12 other cars retire at the moment. Getting to the finish was great for them but, as [chief trackside officer] Mike Krack said, it’s hardly a cause for celebration.”
Formula 1 returns on May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix, the season’s second Sprint weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
