TITLE: Aston Martin to miss Barcelona shakedown days as AMR26 build continues
Aston Martin will forfeit at least one day of running at this week’s Barcelona shakedown test as the team races to complete its 2026 challenger. The Silverstone squad has confirmed it intends to run only on Thursday and Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, missing the first three days of the five-day behind-closed-doors event. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will therefore get just two days of track time with the new AMR26 before official pre-season testing begins in Bahrain next month. The delay represents a setback for a team aiming to establish itself as a front-runner under its new technical partnership with Adrian Newey and its switch to Honda power units.
Limited running for Alonso and Stroll in Barcelona
Teams have been allocated the option to choose any three days from Monday through Friday for running at the Catalan circuit, making Aston Martin’s decision to target just Thursday and Friday significant. An Aston Martin spokesperson confirmed the team’s intentions to Autosport, stating simply that the AMR26 will arrive in Barcelona later this week for its shakedown, with running planned for the final two days.
This compressed schedule means both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will have reduced seat time to familiarize themselves with the radical new 2026 regulations before the season opener. The two-time world champion and his Canadian teammate face the challenge of adapting to not only a completely new car concept but also the fundamentally different power unit architecture mandated for this season.
The truncated test programme puts Aston Martin at a disadvantage compared to rivals who began running on Monday. Seven teams participated in the opening day, with Red Bull’s rookie Isack Hadjar setting the early pace ahead of Mercedes‘ Andrea Kimi Antonelli. While lap times matter little at this stage, the accumulated mileage and data collection opportunities represent valuable preparation.
McLaren and Ferrari also start late as Williams misses entirely
Aston Martin is not alone in arriving late to Barcelona. Both McLaren and Ferrari missed Monday’s opening day but commenced running from Tuesday onwards, giving them at least four days of potential track time. The Italian team’s SF-26 and McLaren’s MCL39 therefore maintain a fuller testing allocation than Aston Martin will achieve.
Williams faces the most severe disruption to its pre-season preparations, becoming the only team to miss the Barcelona shakedown entirely. The Grove-based squad continues working to complete its FW47 and will not appear at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at all this week. This represents a particularly challenging start for Carlos Sainz in his first season with the team after leaving Ferrari.
Teams are focused on reliability, systems integration, and gathering baseline data with the completely new power unit regulations rather than chasing lap times during the Barcelona week.
Newey’s first Aston Martin design breaks cover
The AMR26 carries enormous significance as the first car developed under the guidance of Adrian Newey since his arrival at Aston Martin as managing technical partner. The legendary designer’s move from Red Bull Racing generated headlines throughout 2025 as arguably the most significant technical hire in recent F1 history. His expertise in aerodynamics and car concept philosophy represents a transformational addition to Aston Martin’s capabilities.
The new car has also been developed using Aston Martin’s recently completed wind tunnel at its Silverstone facility. This state-of-the-art infrastructure forms a crucial part of team owner Lawrence Stroll’s long-term investment strategy to transform the outfit into a championship contender. The combination of Newey’s design leadership and cutting-edge development tools should theoretically position Aston Martin to take a significant step forward.
However, the delayed arrival in Barcelona suggests the complexity of bringing together these new elements has created challenges. Integrating Newey’s design philosophy, the new wind tunnel data, and the Honda power unit within the tight development timeline has evidently stretched resources. The team’s decision to prioritize completing the car properly over maximizing track time indicates a pragmatic approach.
Honda partnership begins with integration challenges
The 2026 season marks Aston Martin’s transformation into a works team through its exclusive partnership with Honda. The Japanese manufacturer returns to F1 with an all-new power unit designed to the radical regulations that dramatically increase electrical power output while reducing internal combustion engine capacity and removing the MGU-H component. This fundamental shift in power unit architecture represents the biggest technical challenge in modern F1 history.
All teams face significant integration work marrying chassis and power unit under these regulations, but Aston Martin carries the additional complexity of starting a completely new partnership. Red Bull Racing, which also uses Honda power, benefits from an established relationship dating back to their previous collaboration. Aston Martin must build those working relationships, communication protocols, and technical understanding from scratch.
The condensed Barcelona programme places added pressure on this integration process. The team will need to compress into two days the systems checks, cooling validation, energy deployment mapping, and reliability running that rivals will spread across three or four days. Any issues discovered late on Thursday or Friday will leave minimal time for solutions before the official Bahrain tests begin in February.
Championship ambitions meet pre-season reality
Aston Martin entered 2026 with legitimate ambitions of challenging for victories and potentially contending for championships. The combination of Newey’s arrival, the Honda works partnership, upgraded facilities, and an experienced driver lineup in Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll created genuine optimism around the team’s prospects.
The Barcelona delays inject a dose of reality into those ambitions. While missing one or two shakedown days will not definitively determine the season outcome, it represents lost preparation time that rivals are exploiting. Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, and other front-runners are accumulating data and refining their packages while Aston Martin works to complete its build.
February’s Bahrain tests become crucial for recovery
With limited running in Barcelona, Aston Martin’s official pre-season tests in Bahrain gain heightened importance. The two three-day tests scheduled for February represent the final preparation opportunity before the season opener. The team must use those six days to complete the validation work rivals will have largely finished in Spain and then progress into proper performance development.
The warmer Bahrain conditions will also provide more representative preparation for the early-season flyaway races. Barcelona’s cool temperatures in January offer limited insight into cooling management, tyre behaviour, and energy deployment patterns that teams will encounter in the Middle East and Asia.
Alonso’s experience will prove valuable in maximizing the limited preparation time. The Spaniard’s technical feedback and ability to identify fundamental car characteristics quickly should help Aston Martin extract maximum value from every lap completed. Stroll faces a steeper learning curve but benefits from continuity with the team’s engineering group.
