Alonso's verdict on Aston Martin's first proper day of 2026 F1 running

Given the revolving door of technical directors, team principals and CEOs at Aston Martin in recent seasons, the scrutiny of its activities during the Barcelona shakedown would have been intense even if its new car were not the first product of its new structure under Adrian Newey.

The team was the last to arrive of those who actually ran during the five days at the track, pitching up on the Wednesday evening having signalled that it would miss at least one of its permitted three days of running. When the AMR26 finally emerged from the garage on Thursday afternoon it promptly ground to a halt with Lance Stroll at the wheel - the Canadian had only completed five laps.

But on the final day Fernando Alonso ran 61 laps according to unofficial timing, though the number of consecutive laps he completed in any given stint is unknown.

"It was good," said Alonso. "Definitely excited to be back in the car after the winter and for us it's the first day.

"I know some of the teams did filming days as shakedowns at the beginning of January and then the whole week here in Barcelona – but for us it was really the very first day so I think we had a positive one.

"60-plus laps and the car is responding well so first day and more to come."

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

Photo by: Aston Martin

While the AMR26 has a number of intriguing features clear from the imagery captured so far, Aston Martin has had to feel its way into a new relationship with incoming power unit partner Honda.

That programme in itself is an entirely new project, since the engineers responsible for the power unit which propelled Max Verstappen to the world championship in 2021 and 2022 before Honda transferred the IP to Red Bull's own in-house set up have long since been redeployed elsewhere within the Honda empire.

Aston Martin has also had to build its own gearbox after years of taking the complete Mercedes powertrain – a steep learning curve even though it created opportunities, since the designers were no longer wedded to the suspension mounting points on the Mercedes gearbox.

Arriving late for testing is very much in the Newey playbook, since the celebrated engineer is well known for pushing the development process until the last minute, aiming to set off on track with the car in as mature a state as possible – even if that costs some track time. The man himself has also been observed patrolling the garage, scrutinising everything.

"I think everyone is super motivated when we see him in the garage taking care of all the details," said Alonso.

"I see all the mechanics, the faces, everyone is looking at him – trying to spot something that maybe he commented about the car or he wants to improve. He's always teaching us something."