Adrian Newey has admitted that Aston Martin ran out of time to paint its AMR26 Formula 1 car as it rushed to take part in the Barcelona shakedown last month.
Aston Martin took part in only two of its permitted three days of track running at the Barcelona shakedown due to delays in having its car ready, as Lance Stroll completed just five laps on its opening day after stopping with technical issues.
However, the Silverstone-based team was able to enjoy a better final day as Fernando Alonso completed 61 laps of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the all-black AMR26 – the squad’s first car overseen by managing technical partner Newey since his move from Red Bull.
At Aston Martin’s livery launch in Saudi Arabia, Newey conceded the team had no time available to paint the car for the Barcelona shakedown, which is why it ran in black rather than a special testing livery.
“It’s great to see the car as we will race it. The car we ran briefly at Barcelona for a day-and-a-half, it was all black, partially in truth because we didn’t have time to paint it,” Newey said. “And that was fabulous.
“Funny enough, Lawrence [Stroll] and I, when it first pulled out of the garage with Lance driving, we were standing next to each other in the pitlane. I think we were both quite close to having a tear in our eyes, because it’s been a long, emotional journey of passion and a lot of hard work to get it to Barcelona.”
Aston Martin AMR26
Photo by: Aston Martin
With the new Aston Martin in its familiar British Racing Green, the team is prepared to take part in the first Bahrain test on 11-13 February, where it will be joined by the other 10 F1 teams including Williams, which missed the entire Barcelona shakedown.
Newey, who has also stepped into the team principal role at Aston Martin following Andy Cowell’s job change at the squad, faces mounting expectation as the British team begins its new era as a works outfit through its new engine partnership with Honda.
The AMR26 is also the first F1 car to be fully developed in the Silverstone base’s new wind tunnel as the Lawrence Stroll-owned team aims to become a competitive force following a difficult two years fading from regular podium finishers to midfield fighters.
Combined with the major changes to both the chassis and power unit regulations, Newey sees the new era in F1 as a golden opportunity for Aston Martin to profit.
“Whenever there’s a big regulation change, there’s always huge opportunities,” he said. “It’s who spots what and which one ultimately proves to be the correct solution, only time will tell. We saw that in 2022 when the last big regulation change came out.
“Then, [at the] start of 2022, there’s lots of different interpretations, solutions. In the end, one turned out to be the correct or the most appropriate one and that’s what by the start of 2024, everybody started to converge on it.”
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