WHAT NEXT FOR ASTON MARTIN, ALONSO AND HONDA

Aston Martin has, as Fernando Alonso pointed out, found three seconds over two Formula 1 race weekends.

Alonso himself scored points for only the second time in 2026 in the Netherlands as he took the team's best finish of the season.

Plus, Honda says its new engine that arrived at Zandvoort hit its key target. Sounds promising, right?

Not entirely. Lance Stroll still says the car is a lottery to drive, and both drivers, plus team principal Adrian Newey, named the exact same problem with the engine after the race that is now a priority to fix.

The Race has spoken exclusively to Honda's F1 chief engineer Shintaro Orihara to hear the inside story of what has been done with its new engine, what's still not working, and why taking the next step could turn out to be incredibly difficult.

How good is Honda's spec 2 engine?

From Honda's perspective, there were reasons to be encouraged by the evidence of the Dutch Grand Prix as Alonso took a best result of the season in ninth.

The revised power unit didn't have any reliability problems over the weekend and Orihara was happy that "everything was working as expected" with the cooling and lubrication elements of the revised engine.

In terms of extra power, Honda was not revealing much - although it is likely to be somewhere in the range of 10-30bhp so far.

"We achieved our internal target from the dyno and then we have confirmed the same improvement trackside," said Orihara.

However, he accepted Honda is "still far away" from F1's top manufacturers and that there is one big fix that's still needed.

It’s something the drivers, Newey and even Honda itself are aligned on.

As Orihara said: "We know that there is room to improve our driveability and this remains paramount for us looking ahead to the next races."

What exactly is Honda's driveability headache?

Driveability is a pretty generic term, but The Race has learned about the specifics behind what is happening at Honda and why the drivers need more.

In simple terms, when F1 figures talk about driveability it is about the engine responding in line with what the driver requires.

The most common assumption is that this revolves around making sure that the engine delivers power in a predictable way when a driver gets on the accelerator. But it's not just that.

Driveability also counts for corner entry, too, because engine braking is a critical element of performance, so manufacturers have to carefully manage how things operate off-throttle.

Ever since F1 became a hybrid formula - first with KERS and most recently with the turbo hybrid engines - driveability has also included how the engine braking works in conjunction with the MGU-K and energy harvesting.

The new challenge is that, when the driver lifts off the throttle or brakes, the engine switches from powering the rear wheels to acting as a generator (via the MGU-K) to feed the battery.

It's a complicated process because there needs to be an incredible amount of synchronicity between the engine feeding the MGU-K, being able to have the perfect amount of engine braking through the right combustion, plus how this interacts with the brake-by-wire adjusting how much is required of the rear brake discs.

Plus you need to add on top of this the impact of downshifts from the gearbox.

To further increase the challenge, when the battery has reached 100% capacity, or has hit a charge limit for a particular corner that the team does not want to go over, then the engine has to instantly stop harvesting - which removes a big deceleration force.

This transition phase, as the engine returns to normal engine braking behaviour, needs to be carefully managed.

As Orihara revealed: "If the driver lifts off the throttle, there is engine braking, but then the MGU-K is harvesting 350kW so the operation point is almost double.

"Then the MGU-K power is decreasing, and engine torque is also decreasing, but the driver demand is 0N. To achieve 0N it is very complicated.

"It is communication between the engine, combustion, and MGU-K control. That is one of the areas we need to improve, how we organise this combination."

If any of these driveability elements are out of kilter, then it can result in the kind of issues that Alonso and Stroll have repeatedly experienced.

The engine braking may be too harsh and that creates instability, the battery may not harvest enough, the engine could push the car into understeer, or the seamless shift gearbox may reject a downshift as it does not have the synchronisation to engage a lower gear.

The difficulties of mastering all these driveability challenges have also escalated hugely with the 2026 regulations.

This is down to two factors. The first is that the increase of the battery influence to almost 50% of the power available has meant that it is even more critical to ensure that the harvesting phase is done as well as possible.

Plus, the loss of the MGU-H - which generated energy from the turbo - has robbed manufacturers of a very valuable tool that assisted with harvesting.

This is because electrical energy could previously be sent from the two MGUs - therefore bypassing the battery totally.

Achieving good driveability requires the right software configuration, plus the right combustion characteristics for the engine not to deliver power while the driver is not on the throttle.

This is something that Honda has struggled with during 2026, not only under braking but also under acceleration. As Orihara said: "Sometimes our combustion is not stable."

The change of power unit rules for this year, as well as Honda working with new fuel and lubricant suppliers, Aramco and Valvoline, means it has not been achieving all that it wants in this area.

So there are clear gains Honda can find from improving combustion on both acceleration and deceleration.

Bringing all this together, until Honda's driveability is sorted then neither it nor Aston Martin will know what the true potential of its engine is because only then will the full power be unleashed.

That is why Alonso said it was hard to judge just how much better the spec 2 engine was.

How Honda is fixing the problems

A fix for the driveability issues requires Honda improving its calibration and introducing revamped software to ensure that the internal combustion engine is doing exactly what the drivers want.

Following the first day of track running at Zandvoort, Honda used the data to work on improvements at its Sakura R&D base overnight.

A new calibration was introduced for qualifying on Saturday, and this did produce a step forward. But more is needed.

Orihara admitted this was "still not enough for the drivers" but it has at least confirmed progress is happening, and further work will be done to make gains for the Italian GP.

There will be no miracle solution that solves all of the driveability headaches instantly, but it will be a case of Honda working hard on the dynos during this fortnight between Zandvoort and Monza.

It then has to continue chipping away at its understanding as it faces tracks with different corners, different energy and engine braking demands, and different surfaces.

Alonso felt there are "a couple of tenths" to come if Honda optimises the package which, based on when things went right at Zandvoort, will push Aston Martin right into regular points contention - as his ninth-place finish in the Netherlands, though well-executed, still owed plenty to an opportunistic one-stop strategy.

However, it is fair to say the overall performance of the Aston Martin-Honda upgrades has thrown up some encouraging results.

Having started the year 3.1% off the benchmark pace in Q1, Aston Martin slumped to more than 4% adrift at Barcelona, the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, as rivals developed their cars.

It finally closed the deficit in Hungary, reaching Q2 with its upgraded chassis, but it was never closer to the front than at Zandvoort last weekend when the new Honda engine arrived.

Even with Aston Martin messing up its execution in qualifying when Alonso got stuck behind Esteban Ocon on his outlap, his Q1 time was just 1.4% adrift of the benchmark.

Highlighting that Q1 pacesetter, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, was only 1.3 seconds ahead, and referencing the many times Aston Martin had been more than four seconds off, Alonso said: "We improved three seconds in two races. This is amazing."

If Honda's progress does bear fruit (although there still may be struggles at power-sensitive tracks such as Monza) this will almost certainly be enough to convince Alonso to stay as he weighs up his future.

Right now, we still don't know if he actually wants to stay in this team, or in F1, in 2027.

Alonso was seen deep in conversation with team principal Newey in the Aston Martin motorhome on Sunday night after the Dutch GP, and will likely be holding talks with owner Lawrence Stroll in this gap to discuss his future.

There is a lot riding on Honda making gains - both the team's results this year and what Alonso does next.

- JON NOBLE

ASTON MARTIN ESCAPES FIA PENALTY FOR BREAKING CURFEW BEFORE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

 

ADRIAN NEWEY DELIVERS INITIAL VERDICT ON HEAVILY REVISED ASTON MARTIN AMR26

Adrian Newey has cast his early verdict on the heavily revised AMR26

Adrian Newey has delivered his initial verdict on the heavily revised Aston Martin AMR26 that debuted in FP1 at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

All eyes in the paddock centred on Aston Martin on Friday as its revised car made its on-track debut in a bid to transform its underperforming season.

Featuring 16 upgrades that include new rear and front wings, diffuser, and sidepods, Friday’s practice sessions were effectively data-gathering sessions.

A metaphorical spanner in the works came in the form of suspension failure for Lance Stroll in FP1, the team reduced to relying on Fernando Alonso’s data as Stroll did not run in FP2 as a result of the damage.

As much as five seconds adrift of the frontrunners in terms of pace recent races, Alonso ended FP1 just 2.4 seconds away from the leading time, the gap increasing slightly to 2.9 seconds in FP2.

After FP1, Newey gave his initial verdict, calling the results “promising”.

“Very early days in terms of understanding the new package. Provisional results are promising,” he said in the Team Principal’s press conference.

“It’s only part of the package. We will have some more steps in Zandvoort, Monza and Baku, so it is the first part of our planned upgrade. Very short on parts so being careful with it and trying to learn all about it.”

“It’s an evolution in as much as the chassis is the same, the layout’s the same, front suspension’s the same. So, it’s very much an aerodynamic evolution,” Newey added. 

“We were very short on time research time prior to launch of the car back in at Barcelona in February.

“So, it’s really been a matter of taking a step back, trying to understand, and go forward with this package.”

Aston Martin debuted a heavily revised AMR26 on Friday

Package goals for Aston Martin?

Newey has denied that set goals are attached to the heavily revised car, explaining his rationale of patience.

“I’ve never been a fan of setting goals,” he said.

“Much more a fan of working logically through problems, getting everybody working together, getting a culture together, and then at that point, you end up where you end up. 

“What I have found over the years is when you’re not winning, it seems an impossible mountain to climb. When you are winning, sometimes you’re not sure how you got there, because you’re not actually doing anything different, or you don’t feel as if you’re doing anything different.”

Newey confirmed that Aston Martin has yet to determine the cause of Stroll’s suspension failure, though he added vital context about which part failed.

“Everybody is feverishly trying to understand what went wrong and it is only once we have an understanding that we can comment on what we do next. 

“The area involved is not what has been changed, so in that sense it was very unexpected.”

Newey is justifiably keeping his cards close to his chest on upgrades to the AMR26, with the stopwatch in qualifying to provide a definitive answer on their impact.

- James Phillips

ASTON MARTIN HAS A STAGGERING SIXTEEN UPGRADED PARTS TO THE #HUNGARIANGP

Aston Martin has brought a staggering SIXTEEN updated parts to the #HungarianGP #F1 #AstonMartin

FORMULA 1 TEAMS | VALUATION

 

STROLL SET FOR GT WORLD CHALLENGE DEBUT AT PAUL RICARD

As a sudden forced hiatus puts a halt on Formula 1 this month due to the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, Lance Stroll isn’t interested in a quiet month at home.

Instead of swapping his racing suit for loungewear, the Aston Martin charger is trading his open-wheel cockpit for something with a roof and a lot more bodywork.

Next week, Stroll will make a surprise debut in the GT World Challenge Europe season-opener at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Swapping his usual F1 machinery for the muscular Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, the Canadian is joining the Comtoyou Racing squad. It’s a move that keeps his reflexes sharp while the rest of the F1 world waits for the sport’s reprise in Miami next month.

Stroll won’t be flying solo in the No. 18 entry. He’s set to share the drive with a diverse crew, including former Marussia F1 pilot Roberto Merhi and fellow Spanish racer Mari Boya.

A tacked-up field at Paul Ricard

While the outing will mark Stroll’s first foray into the specific world of GT racing, he’s no stranger to the endurance grind.

With two Daytona 24 Hours starts already to his name – including a notable fifth-place finish back in 2016 – the transition to GT3 should be more of a "refresher" than a "reset."

©Comtoyou Racing

The grid at Paul Ricard is shaping up to be a star-studded affair. Stroll will find himself sharing the tarmac with MotoGP icon Valentino Rossi, who returns to the series full-time with BMW.

Even Max Verstappen’s presence will be felt, as his Team Verstappen Racing outfit is also scheduled to compete, even if the Dutchman himself is sitting this one out.

For Stroll, this will be a cameo that will hopefully remind the paddock that when given something different than a high-frequency vibrating F1 machine, he can still surprise.

- Michael Delaney

FORMULA 1 CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS

 

SPECULATION MOUNTS OVER ADRIAN NEWEY'S ASTON MARTIN ROLE

F1 team has reportedly approached Audi's Jonathan Wheatley about taking over as team principal.

Getty Images 

• Newey likely to scale back role soon but replacement not confirmed

• Audi’s Wheatley is currently the most likely hire, according to ESPN

• Newey will switch focus to technical matters amid difficult start to season for Aston Martin

Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey remains at the helm of the Formula One team but speculation is mounting around the future of his role.

Autosport reported on Thursday that the 67-year-old was set to scale back his role, with current Audi boss Jonathan Wheatley named as his replacement.

However, a team spokesperson described the reports to BlackBook Motorsport as “rumour and speculation”.

The spokesperson added: “Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team remains fully committed to Adrian Newey as managing technical partner and team principal.”

Since then, ESPN has reported that Newey will step down from his role to focus on technical matters within the team. The report added that no deal has been agreed yet, but Wheatley is currently the most likely hire.

BBC Sport has also reported that Aston Martin has approached Wheatley about the role.

An Aston Martin spokesperson told ESPN and BBC Sport that the organisation “would not be engaging in media speculation about its senior leadership” and that Newey “continues to lead the team as team principal and managing technical partner”.

Newey officially joined the team, which is owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, on 1st March 2025 as managing technical partner before the surprise announcement that he would become team principal for the start of the 2026 season.

Known for being quiet and reserved, many felt the demands of team leadership were not suited to Newey’s technical prowess. Various reports indicate that Newey is assisting the search for his successor.

Newey and Wheatley know each other well from their time together at Red Bull Racing. The duo formed part of a hugely successful outfit that won six constructors’ championships between 2010 and 2023.

Wheatley has been team principal of Audi since the start of the 2025 season – when they raced under the Sauber name – and oversaw a dramatic shift from clear backmarkers the year prior to his arrival to a more competitive midfield team.

Aston Martin have suffered a terrible start to the 2026 season due to severe deficiencies with their Honda engine and will hope to benefit from Wheatley’s powers of recovery should he be appointed. However, prising him out of his current deal will be far from easy and could include a period of gardening leave.

If a deal is ultimately agreed, Newey may have to continue as team principal for some time as Audi would not want to bolster a direct rival at the start of a new phase of regulations.

According to ESPN, the plan was always for Newey’s role as team boss to be temporary, while the publication has also reported that any new hire would report to him in the new structure.

Other candidates approached for the role reportedly include Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and former McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl.

If Newey is ultimately replaced this season, his successor will be Aston Martin’s fifth team principal in the past six seasons.

- CIAN BRITTLE

ASTON MARTIN SAYS ITS F1 CAR RISKS GIVING DRIVERS 'NERVE DAMADE'

Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage

Headlines from ABC News LiveCatch up on the developing stories making headlines.
The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage.

Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team's Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added.

Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.

“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey.

“Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.

“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.

“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”

Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.

He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.

Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.

“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.

“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short

“Since (pre-season testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”

Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival; Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.

But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.

- STEWART BELL, Associated Press

ASTON MARTIN WILL SKIP FIRST TWO DAYS OF 2026 BARCELONA F1 TEST

The British marque will not be seen in Barcelona this week by Wednesday at the earliest

Aston Martin is set to skip the opening two days of the first 2026 Formula 1 pre-season test in Barcelona, Motorsport.com understands. 

F1 is currently hosting a five-day shakedown at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (26-30 January), ahead of further tests in Bahrain (11-13 and 18-20 February) before the forthcoming campaign. 

This season will introduce widespread regulation changes and as a result, the Catalan test is being held behind closed doors with teams permitted a maximum three days of running. 

It is already known that Mercedes, Audi, Alpine, Haas, Cadillac, Racing Bulls and Red Bull are out on track during the first day, with McLaren and Ferrari set to start on Tuesday. 

Williams, meanwhile, announced last week that it was skipping Barcelona “to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain” with a series of virtual tests “following delays in the FW48 programme”.

The only team whose plan is not entirely known is Aston Martin, but Motorsport.com can reveal that it will not be seen in Barcelona until Wednesday at the earliest, with Thursday being a genuine possibility. 

Mercedes W17 Barcelona test
Photo by Formula 1

That is despite the Silverstone outfit’s hospitality and support structures being present at the track, but it is understood that Aston’s situation is similar to that of Williams with delays in development.

The 2026 regulations are proving a huge challenge for all teams with changes across the whole car: the chassis is now lighter and smaller, while power units feature more electric energy with a near 50-50 split alongside the internal combustion engine.

A car chassis becoming lighter is already proving difficult for teams, as they are struggling to meet the reduced minimum weight of 768kg - last year it was 800kg.

There is also the added complication at Aston Martin that it is partnering with a new power unit supplier this year, as it is becoming a Honda works’ outfit rather than its previous guise as a Mercedes customer team. 

This comes alongside a new team principal in Adrian Newey, who is stepping into the team boss role for the first time following decades of being a championship-winning designer. 

The expectations at Aston Martin are therefore huge for the coming years, especially following significant investment from billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, but it may not meet the three days of track time in Barcelona this week.

- Roberto Chinchero

ASTON MARTIN AMR26 ROARS: HONDA'S 2026 POWER PLAY BEGINS

Aston Martin lights up 2026: AMR26 fires up as Honda era begins to hum

There’s a new sound in Silverstone — and it’s not a V6 on a dyno. Aston Martin pressed the starter on its 2026 challenger, the AMR26, before the winter shutdown, with Honda engineers on hand as the team’s works power-unit partnership clicks from paperwork to petrol.

The team shared a short clip from inside its factory as the first fire-up ran clean, a familiar ritual of sensor checks, fuel pressure numbers and nervous glances finally giving way to applause. Fire-ups don’t win races, but they’re the line in the sand every programme wants before Christmas: chassis and power unit talking to each other, systems awake, timelines on track.

This one mattered more than most. It’s the first publicly shared fire-up of a 2026 Formula 1 car, a neat marker as the grid barrels toward the biggest tech shake-up in years. Aston Martin’s exclusive deal with Honda begins next season, the Japanese manufacturer returning as a full works supplier with an all-new hybrid unit designed around the incoming regulations. Honda recently teased its own 2026 power unit in a separate post-season video; now we’ve heard the engine and the car sing together for the first time in green.

The AMR26 will break cover on 8 February, with the team weighing up a camouflage or plain testing livery for the opening five-day pre-season run in Barcelona, scheduled to be held behind closed doors from 26 January. That timing’s tight, and it makes this early systems check all the more valuable.

If you’ve followed Aston Martin’s trajectory over the last few seasons, the picture’s clear: significant hiring, new facilities, and now a factory power unit deal designed to lock in performance and control. Fernando Alonso, who has seen a few “next eras” in his time, sounded quietly bullish about the reset that 2026 brings.

“I’m optimistic, because it’s a reset of things. You know, everyone has the chance to do a better job than the others,” Alonso said in Abu Dhabi as the 2025 season wound down. “We start from scratch… We have our new facilities completed now, we have our own wind tunnel. We have Honda as engine supplier – and only for us. Aramco, Adrian Newey… so we have some good things to be optimistic about, but this is a very competitive sport, and everyone is doing a very good job. So we’ll see.”

What his comments get at is the difference between a quick car and a complete project. The campus at Silverstone is online, the wind tunnel is theirs, and Honda’s unit is being developed with Aston Martin’s packaging and aero philosophy in mind from day one. In a rules reset, those margins become multipliers.

And yet, caution is built into the tone coming out of the team. 2026’s slimmer, lighter cars and the revised power unit formula — with more electrical deployment and new energy management demands — mean concepts will diverge early. “A lot of things will happen in the first three or four months of the year,” Alonso added. “When you discover the cars and which direction and philosophy everyone took, you learn a lot in the first two or three races… I think we have the right people and the right facilities and environment to have a good season. So it’s up to us.”

Between now and launch, the job list is the same one every technical group knows by heart: correlation, cooling, wiring looms, weight, aero surfaces, and the hundreds of “small” decisions that decide whether a platform is forgiving or fussy. But getting a new engine architecture to behave inside a fresh chassis on the first press of the starter is an underrated win. It confirms that the architecture — fuel, oil, hydraulics, hybrid systems, electronics — is integrating as designed. It also frees the team to chase performance rather than firefight reliability gremlins when the clock starts ticking in January.

The significance of “first to make noise” shouldn’t be overstated; rivals will be running their own integration tests in quiet workshops up and down Europe. But in a sport that feeds on momentum and message discipline, Aston Martin choosing to show the milestone is a statement of intent. The last time the regulations flipped, one team nailed it and feasted for three seasons. The rest took numbers and went back to work.

This time, Aston Martin wants to be the one setting the pace — and the soundtrack suggests they’re at least in rhythm. The answers arrive soon enough: Barcelona’s hush-hush mileage, a February launch, and then the opening rounds when concepts stop being CAD models and start being lap times. For now, the AMR26 breathes. That’s step one.

- Alex Albuquerque

ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE AHEAD OF 2026 SEASON

Aston Martin Aramco announces changes to leadership structure ahead of the 2026 season.

Andy Cowell and Adrian Newey have agreed to divide their responsibilities in order to focus on their individual strengths and expertise, ensuring organisational efficiency.

Andy Cowell will take on a new role as Chief Strategy Officer, using his unique experience to help optimise the technical partnership between the Team, Honda, Aramco and Valvoline.

Adrian Newey will take on the role of Team Principal from 2026 and will be guiding the technical team, including the trackside operations of the car.

Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman, addressed the team at AMRTC today to share the news.

- Aston Martin Aramco

BORTOLETO HANDED FIVE-PLACE GRID PENALTY FOR HIS COLLISION WITH STROLL

Following his ambitious move at the start at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Kick Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto has been handed a five-place grid penalty for next weekend's Qatar round.

Kick Sauber Bortoleto looked overly optimistic at the start, braking much later than his rivals as he approached the first coner. Braking late, he locked up and seemed to collide with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll who sent the Alpine of Pierre Gasly into a spin.

While the Brazilian limped round for two laps, the damage on his car was too great and he pulled into the pits to retire for the second straight race.

The stewards investigated the matter and elected to hand out a five-place grid penalty to Bortoleto who will serve it at next weekend's Qatar Grand Prix.

„The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data and video evidence. The driver of Car 5 braked extremely late and as a result collided with Car 18.

„Even though this was a Lap 1 Turn 1 incident, mitigating circumstances do not exist and hence the standard 10 second penalty would have applied however as Car 5 retired, the penalty is converted into a grid penalty for the next Race in which the driver participates, in accordance with our guidelines," read the FIA's statement.

Reflecting on his unfortunate mistake at the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Bortoleto admitted that he "misjudged the braking point by a few metres."

“First of all, I would like to apologise to Lance [Stroll]. It was my fault – I had a strong launch and went for a move on the inside of the Williams, but by the time I committed, I misjudged the braking point by a few meters and it was already too late to slow the car down properly.

"I went in a bit long, had no angle to make the corner, and ended up hitting him. It’s a shame, because the weekend seemed promising until qualifying, and then the mistake on lap one ruined both our races.

"I just need to put everything together now for the remaining two races of the season – clean laps, clean weekends – because not finishing these last two races meant losing track experience I should have been gaining. I’ll learn from this, reset, and make sure to come back to the performance levels I've shown before as we come to Doha next week.”

- Balazs Szabo

ASTON MARTIN ESCAPE SANCTIONS AFTER 'VERY MINOR' F1 COST CAP BREACH

Formula One F1 - Mexico Grand Prix - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico - October 24, 2025 Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso during practice REUTERS/Raquel Cunha

LONDON - Aston Martin committed a "very minor" procedural breach of Formula One's cost cap regulations last year due to exceptional circumstances but will face no penalties, the sport's governing body said on Tuesday.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said the other nine teams and five engine manufacturers were all in compliance, despite speculation last week that a more substantial breach might be announced.

The FIA said the breach, involving a failure to submit signed versions of its audited annual financial statements by a March deadline, was due to unpredictable circumstances outside the team's control.

Significantly, Aston Martin had not exceeded the cost cap level.

The Silverstone-based team had acted cooperatively and in good faith, added the FIA, entering an Accepted Breach Agreement last month to resolve the matter.

"The Cost Cap Administration confirm that there is no accusation or evidence that AMR has sought or obtained any undue advantage as a result of the breach," the FIA said.

Speculation about a team being in breach of the cost cap had mounted after the FIA was late publishing the accounts for the 2024 season.

Confirmation of teams' compliance had come much earlier in previous years. 

- REUTERS

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2025 | LONGEST STINT

 

KEY ADRIAN NEWEY ADVANTAGE SPOTTED AFTER DOUBLE MCLAREN INSPECTION COMPLETE

Adrian Newey: Aston Martin's ticket to the top?
 

Adrian Newey’s habit of inspecting rival cars on the grid stems from his belief that he can “learn” from his competitors, a former Mercedes mechanic and pit crew member has claimed.

It comes after the Aston Martin man was spotted by PlanetF1.com studying the dominant McLaren MCL39 in Monaco and Britain earlier this season.

Why Adrian Newey has eyed the McLaren MCL39 during the F1 2025 season

Newey stands as the most decorated individual in F1 history with involvement in more than 200 races wins and a combined 26 Drivers’ and Constructors’ title triumphs for the likes of Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.

The 66-year-old joined Aston Martin in the newly created role of managing technical partner in March, as well as becoming a shareholder in the F1 team.

Newey is currently leading the development of Aston Martin’s first car – expected to be named the AMR26 – for the new F1 2026 rules, which will see the sport embrace 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics.

Adrian Newey: Aston Martin’s ticket to the top of F1?

Although Newey’s primary focus is on the 2026 car, the legendary designer has joined his new team trackside at various races during the F1 2025 season, appearing with Aston Martin at the Monaco and British Grands Prix.

On both occasions, PlanetF1.com journalist Thomas Maher spotted Newey taking a close look at the championship-leading McLaren MCL39 driven by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (below).

Adrian Newey studies the McLaren MCL39 on the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix grid (Image: Thomas Maher, PlanetF1.com)
 

Adrian Newey checks out the McLaren at Silverstone (Image: Thomas Maher, PlanetF1.com)
 

McLaren has tasted victory at 12 of the 16 races held so far in F1 2025, establishing a 337-point advantage in the Constructors’ standings with eight rounds remaining.

 The Woking-based team can clinch a second successive teams’ title at next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

Ryan McGarva, a former Mercedes mechanic, reckons that Newey’s willingness to analyse what his competitors are doing is a key element behind his success.

He told Champions Speakers in association with PlanetF1.com: “Data is analysed in every area of F1, whether it’s in the pit stops, whether it’s the performance of the car, the reliability of the car.

“I think the first thing that they would do is we analyse ourselves and the things that the team can control.

“They also analyse the competition, so it’s very important to look at the other nine teams on the grid and what they’re doing, and any lessons that can be learned from what your competition are doing.

 “Adrian Newey is one of the best F1 designers that there’s ever been, but at the start of the race you regularly see him on the grid looking at what all the other teams are doing.

"He’s just taking in and realises he can learn from the other nine teams on the grid, so it’s very important to analyse your competitors.

“In the olden days the data was the advantage, so the more data you had the more of an advantage you had.

“But actually now the teams all have a very similar amount of data and they all have the same information available to them.

“So actually the strengths come from your team and how they analyse that data, how they prioritise what they look at, and realising when there’s bad data as well and not reacting to that.

“So I think it’s actually the people as much as the data.”

Speaking at last month’s Dutch Grand Prix, Aston Martin driver and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso outlined his excitement over working with Newey ahead of the F1 2026 rules reset.

Asked if he is starting to understand how Newey ticks, Alonso told PlanetF1.com and other publications at Zandvoort: “Yes, definitely.

“You spend more time with him and you keep learning things and how he works and how he approach things, challenges, all these normal day-by-day, things in Formula 1.

“But I think he’s still a person that is very special and I think only few people will understand him fully and will be able to know exactly what he’s thinking and what he’s doing."

“So we will need more time. At the moment, we are in a phase of learning from him.

“Every conversation, every idea, everything that he says, we take it very carefully.

“We listen and we try to understand the approach that he’s taking into that comment.

“And thanks to that, I think we are growing as a team, so it has been very special for sure.”

Asked if he gets the impression that Newey understands him too, Alonso replied: “I think so!

“I think all the questions and all the ideas that he raises, he explains why he thinks that it’s going to be a good solution for the team, for the car and for the drivers as well.

“In terms of how to approach the corner entry, maybe next year is very different than this year’s cars.

“Top speed is going to be different next year. Tyres are going to be different next year.

“So he tries to anticipate what the drivers will face in certain moments on the lap, in quali, versus the race and all this kind of thing.

“So he’s very educative.”

 - Oliver Harden

CHRISTIAN HORNER SET FOR 'SHOCK F1 MOVE TO ASTON MARTIN'

Christian Horner has been linked to Aston Martin. (Image: Bradley Collyer / PA)

Christian Horner is set to make a Formula 1 move to Aston Martin after his sacking from Red Bull, according to new reports.

The 51-year-old who lives near Banbury was relieved of his Red Bull team principal role last month after 20 years of service.

Early in July, a statement from Red Bull GmbH read: “Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today (Wednesday, July 9) and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO of Red Bull Racing.”

Christian Horner and his wife Geri Halliwell-Horner live on the Oxfordshire border. (Image: Scott Hunt / PA)

Mr Horner had been team principal at Red Bull since 2005, overseeing eight drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ titles.

He led them to world championship success with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in a period which included eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships.

The Formula 1 star resides in a £9.2m mansion with his wife, Geri Halliwell-Horner, on the Oxfordshire border with Northamptonshire.

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Now he has been linked with a move to Aston Martin by former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya on a recent episode of the MontoyAS podcast.

Asked if he could see Horner at Cadillac, he said: "No, I see Horner more in a team like Aston.

"I see him at a team like Aston on the one hand because he has been with Newey for many years and they have a very good relationship, so it would be a very good fit."

- Edward Burnett

FERNANDO ALONSO WARNS F1 RIVALS ADRIAN NEWEY IS PREPARING 'SOMETHING BIG' AT ASTON MARTIN FOR 2026

 

Credit: Joe Portlock/Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Fernando Alonso’s 2025 Formula 1 season has been a bit of a moot affair so far.

The Spaniard has been stuck with an underperforming Aston Martin car, with little point in developing it beyond the European leg of the campaign.

The fast-approaching 2026 F1 regulations mean that the team and new signing Adrian Newey are completely focused on a new and long-term project.

For the time being, it means that Alonso will be subject to some pain, but there could end up being a whole lot more gain if they can nail the new rules.

Alonso should have rejected an Aston Martin mistake at the last race in Belgium, after failing to reject the team’s idea to use a high-downforce setup. It cost him in race trim.

The problem is, Newey is ‘semi-teaching’ Aston Martin staff how to use new tools in the factory as they go along. It may take them a little more time to adjust to their new surroundings.

Aston Martin sources made a ‘strange’ claim about their 2025 updates and believe that they have focused on driveability rather than performance.

It hasn’t yielded much of a return, as they sit eighth in the constructors’ championship, just one point ahead of ninth.

Newey is ‘pushing the boundaries’ at Aston Martin and wants to make sure that everyone at the team is as prepared as possible for next season.

And now Alonso has warned that the Briton is already preparing something that might scare his rivals at this early stage.

“The cars are very different, and the things we’ve already learned, like improvements or wind tunnel data, have been checked,” he told Marca.

“We’re just waiting until January 2026 to see how fast we are. Something big is coming, and we’re 100% focused.”

Why Adrian Newey will be hungry for success with Aston Martin in 2026

The last time Newey had full influence over a Formula 1 car was back in 2023 – the last time Red Bull had a really dominant machine.

That isn’t likely to be a coincidence, but it does make 2026 even more exciting for Aston Martin, whose car will be at his mercy.

Newey has a pass to be as creative as he would like, and he comes into his own particularly at the start of new regulations. He loves to find a loophole.

Another bonus will give Newey a ‘major advantage’ at Aston Martin, with Honda supplying their power units for the future.

If they can replicate what they did at Red Bull, then there’s a strong chance of good results waiting for them in 2026.

- Shay Rogers

ADRIAN NEWEY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | SETTLING IN AT ASTON MARTIN AND THE NEW 2026 REGULATIONS

 

FORD PROVIDE UPDATE ON ALL-NEW RED BULL F1 ENGINE

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Ford

Ford has shared further insight into the development of Red Bull's F1 power unit for 2026, the team's first season as an engine manufacturer.

Mark Rushbrook, global director at Ford performance, has outlined how the project is going from the American car giant's perspective, which has entered a partnership with the Milton Keynes-based squad to see in the new era of F1 power unit regulations.

With Honda leaving for Aston Martin, Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) is making good on its initial plans to become an OEM (before the Japanese marque reversed its decision to leave the championship), with Ford by its side.

With significant changes to how F1 engines will work from next season, the technical and strategic relationship between Red Bull and Ford is of paramount importance to how the six-time constructors' champions perform next term - and beyond.

"The partnership is actually getting stronger every day, from the first discussions and the moment the contract was signed, although the work had already started before that," Rushbrook told the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com.

"We are contributing in a number of ways. In general, we are on track with our timeline for the ICE [internal combustion engine] and the electrical components.

"There is obviously still a lot of work to do and a lot to prove in terms of durability, but the partnership - the openness, the trust and the contribution from both sides - has been excellent so far. It's everything we hoped for and actually more than we expected."

The original remit of the partnership was for Ford to handle power unit electronics for the team, but the scope has broadened, including to the producing of the ICE.

Now, Red Bull is utilising even more expertise and resources at Ford's disposal. "Initially the focus was on electrification," Rushbrook explained. "But with our advanced manufacturing facility and our [3D] printing machines, we can make things in real time.

"We are literally making things every day that come out of Dearborn, are shipped and are tested in the lab in Milton Keynes."

Is the power unit reaching its targets?

Rushbrook also confirmed the power unit is currently meeting its targets, but was keen to stress that to "achieve everything 100 percent" is not a realistic expectation.

When asked if targets are currently being reached and that everything is going according to plan, he highlighted the need to be reactive to how development unfolds.

"Yes, although of course there are always exceptions because you can never achieve everything 100 percent," he replied.

"But when it comes to achieving the power numbers, then absolutely. Then it's about the reliability tests to match that.

"Do you achieve everything perfectly? No, but that's the reality of any programme. It just happens as you go along and then it's about how you respond, in terms of urgency and in terms of the mindset of the people. So we respond to what we see."

He added: "When the engine develops and finds more power, then of course it's always about testing reliability. So it's: power, reliability, power, reliability."

- Samuel Coop