Is Aston Martin In Trouble?

Bahrain testing marked the first time that F1 fans were able to see all 11 cars on track. There was one car that stood out and not for a good reason. Aston Martin have not had an easy start to their 2026 season or their relationship with Honda.

There was a lot of excitement going into this year for the British racing team. With Adrian Newey's influence on the car and, Honda as their engine partner there was hope that AM would start fighting at the front of the field.

Early signs for testing don't seem to be pointing in that direction. It looks like the team have made a huge step backwards from last year.

When the AMR26 turned up at Barcelona, it attracted a lot of attention. It featured a radical concept of the 2026 regulations that people had come to expect from Newey. A few teething problems during the Spanish test was nothing to raise an eyebrow over, that's exactly what this shake-down was for. But the lack of running meant that they were miles behind their competitors.

The first Bahrain test has caused major concerns for the team. After a lack of running in Barcelona, they'd been hoping to hit the ground running at the Sakhir circuit. But it wasn't meant to be.

Day one saw the team losing valuable time on track as they tried to resolve an issue with the Honda power unit. There were anomalies in the data that needed to be understood and in the afternoon the entire power unit was changed.

Other issues also seemed to appear with Stroll not going above 300km/h on the straight during the 36 laps heo completed. As well as that, the team had to open cooling vents on the car to help the engine stay at a sensible temperature.

On day two, Alonso had managed to rack up a decent number of laps but it pace was over four seconds off the leader, Charles Leclerc. It seemed like the team were still trying to protect the engine.

Stroll wasn't too happy about the car. Speaking to the press, he'd said:

It’s a combination of things: engine, balance, grip. It’s not one thing, it’s a combination.

The team know that there's no quick solution to their problems and it'll take some time to figure out how exactly to optimise their car. But they'll be hoping that the second Bahrain test might give them some smoother running.