After a shorter winter break the 2026 Formula One season assembled at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, where this year’s Championship campaign would begin. Being the first race, the weekend would provide the first competitive outing for the new generation of cars and power units introduced under the far-reaching 2026 regulations. For Aston Martin, expectations were very guarded. Pre-season preparation had not gone well and Adrian Newey, the Team Principal, had cautioned that the team was 4 months behind schedule with its preparations. Pre-season testing in Bahrain had been disrupted by issues with the Honda supplied power unit & battery, notably vibrations that were rattling the battery to pieces, leading to repeated system failures. The AMR26 had very limited running – far less than any other teams, forcing the team to face the reality that neither driver would be able to complete the full race distance. Nevertheless, it offered the first opportunity to gather meaningful race data and begin the long process of understanding the AMR26 under full race conditions.
Free Practice
The first free practice session of the 2026 season quickly became problematic for Aston Martin. Lance Stroll was the only team driver to take to the track as Fernando Alonso was unable to participate at all due to a technical issue that kept his car in the garage throughout the session. Stroll completed a limited amount of running and was 16th (last among the cars that had set times) before he had to come back into the garage by the time 15 minutes were up and then spent the rest of the hour in the garage while mechanics worked on his car. The session was briefly neutralised when Albon’s Williams stopped on track with what appeared to be a hydraulic issue, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) while marshals cleared away the stranded car. With both AMR26s confined to the garage, the session concluded with Stroll classified 21st and Alonso 22nd – Leclerc in a Ferrari was P1.
Preparation difficulties appeared to continue in the second session. Alonso ventured out early when FP2 began, though his run was short-lived, returning to the garage after one ‘fast’ lap, while Stroll remained in his garage. Alonso went out again after 15 minutes and circulated slowly for one lap. Both drivers came onto the circuit at the midway point of the session, but Alonso cruised around cautiously, 6 seconds behind the leading pace being set by Melbourne favourite, Piastri, with Stroll just a little slower. Alonso returned to the pits with 14 minutes left on the clock - Stroll continued intermittent laps up until the closing stages and the session ended with Alonso 20th and Stroll 21st, only saved from last by Perez not being able to take part at all. It was becoming apparent that another issue related to the vibrations that were destroying the batteries was materialising. This was that the vibrations risked causing permanent nerve damage to the driver’s hands as they gripped the steering wheel – particularly affecting Stroll as he’d had a cycling accident 3 years ago before the start of the 2023 season and had to have surgery in his hands. Due to this the mechanics worked late into the night and from the early morning to try and isolate and rectify the issue.
By the time Free Practice 3 (FP3) had got underway, following a 20 minute delay, due to big accident in the Supercars race earlier in the day, it was reported that two of the three vibration issues had been solved. Alonso was the first of the team’s drivers to appear once the session began, but immediately encountered difficulties with the bumps around turn 3, locking up heavily before returning to the pits. The session was soon interrupted by a VSC when Sainz’s Williams stopped near the pit entry, which was then ‘upgraded’ to red flags. At this point, Alonso was P6 of the 10 cars that had posted a time. Running resumed with 38 minutes left on the clock and Alonso returned to the track but remained far down the order, lying in P17 at the halfway point but ‘only’ 3 seconds off the pace. Stroll was yet to complete a timed lap as work on his car continued in the garage. Then, with less than 15 minutes of the session remaining, another red flag halted the session after Antonelli had a heavy crash, after going up on a kerb slightly too much, lost grip and was launched into a barrier. With only a few minutes left once the track was cleared, there was little opportunity for further improvement and Alonso finsihed 18th, ahead of Bottas and Perez in their Cadillacs, the newcoming team to F1. Stroll was classified 22nd as he hadn’t recorded a time and Russell was P1, 3.667 seconds ahead of Alonso.
Qualifying
Qualifying remained far from ideal for the team. Stroll’s car continued to suffer from persistent power unit problems and ultimately never left the garage during Q1, leaving Alonso the only one able to compete. With Sainz’s Williams not being able to run and Mercedes still repairing Antonelli’s car, Alonso, set an early lap that placed him in P14 when the first fast runs concluded. The session was then interrupted by a red flag when Verstappen’s Red Bull inexplicably locked up the rear wheels and went careering over the gravel and into the barrier at turn 1. This allowed just enough time for Mercedes to repair Antonelli’s car. When running resumed it looked like Alonso had a realistic opportunity to advance into Q2. However, in the dying moments, after everyone thought Alonso was through, Colapinto improved his final lap time and pushed Alonso into the elimination zone, to P17, thus ending Aston Martin’s qualifying participation. Russell was P1, as he was in Q2 as well. Q3 had a moment of drama when a cooling fan that was left on Antonelli’s car during the rebuild subsequently fell onto the track and Norris drove over it, smashing it to pieces, which also required the red flags. However, this did not distract Russell, who went onto secure the first pole position of the 2026 season, ahead of Antonelli and Hadjar. After the session and despite not setting a qualifying lap due to the ongoing power unit issues, and not setting a lap time within 107% of the leading car all weekend, which is the margin required to be able to take part in the race, the Stewards decided that he could compete in the race, given his "experience and proficiency as a driver."
Race
After weeks of waiting and months of anticipation, the new era of Formula 1 was about to officially get underway with the 2026 Australian Grand Prix. However, before a throttle was pressed or button pushed in earnest, and much to the shock of the home crowd, Oscar Piastri crashed during the reconnaissance warm-up laps prior to the race and put himself out of participation. As the grid was counting down to the starting sequence it was revealed that Alonso would start on the soft compound tyres and Stroll would start on the mediums. Then, just as the race was about to get going, with a new starting sequence in force, Hulkenberg’s car was wheeled off the grid and into the Audi garage, leaving question marks over his further participation. This new starting sequence – in which drivers receive a five-second warning via blue flashing panels – introduced to overcome high turbo lag, counted the lights down and it was Leclerc who had the best start amongst the leaders and launched himself into the lead going into the first turn, as Russell had a poor start. For the green machines, Alonso caught everyone’s attention, by working his way up to 10th, while off the track Audi confirmed that Hulkenberg would not be able to start and Colapinto was being investigated for a starting procedure infringement. At the end of lap 1, it was Leclerc, Russell & Hamilton at the front - Alonso P10 and Stroll P20 (after Piastri’s crash and Hulkenberg not starting). Over the course of the next 9 laps, while there was a tremendous battle at the front, with Russell and Leclerc trading the lead and learning how to deploy the battery energy to maximum advantage, Alonso was caught and passed by Bortoleto and Bearman on lap 3, Verstappen on lap 5, Albon on lap 6, Sainz and Colapinto at the start of lap 7 and finally Lawson, who seemed to almost stall at the start, on lap 8. Alonso was back where he started, in P17, the true pace and capability of the AMR26 being laid bare, as the race settled into its early rhythm. Alonso then moved back up to 16th, when Colapinto came into the pits on lap 10 to serve a stop/go penalty for the infringement. On the next lap Hadjar’s Red Bull gave up the ghost and came to a stop off the racing line, but enough to necessitate the VSC to be deployed. Both Aston Martins took advantage of this lull and came into the pits for fresh tyres. Russell, who was leading the race, pitted as well, whereas the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton stayed out and they took P1 & 2. No sooner was he back out on track that Alonso was told over the radio to come back in and stop the car! On lap 19 the VSC had to be deployed again, when Bottas’s Cadillac came to a halt at the pit lane entry. It was quickly cleared away and the racing resumed, with Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, 1, 2, 3 and Stroll in P17, the last of the cars still running. Leclerc was then called into the pits for his tyre change and Hamilton took over the lead on lap 27. Then, remarkably, Alonso was sent back out on track again, even though he was 10 laps behind the leaders – clearly this was to collect as much data about the car as possible and to use the rest of the race to make up for lack of testing. Hamilton, then came into the pits at the halfway point of the race (lap 29), for a fresh set of tyres, allowing Russell to take the lead back again, with Antonelli in P2 and Leclerc P3. Stroll was still in P17 and Alonso P18. On lap 34 the was VSC deployed again, due to the front wing on Perez’s Cadillac inexplicably detaching & landing on track and Alonso went back to the pits again, followed by Stroll, but while Stroll was sent back out, Alonso wasn't. However, on lap 37 Stroll was brought back into the pits and the laps continued to count down with Russell, Antonelli & Leclerc in the top three positions. With 10 laps to go Alonso and Stroll were officially classified as out of the race, but with 5 laps to go Stroll was sent back out again, only for 2 laps, when he was brought back in - this time permanently. Russell took the win for Mercedes, Antonelli followed him to the chequered flag, with Leclerc grabbing the final podium position. The Aston Martin’s were officially classified as Stroll in P17 (15 laps behind the winner) and Alonso as Did Not Finish (DNF) having retired on lap 34.
Reaction and Comments
Needless to state, that the reaction was very muted and sombre. Adrian Newey’s official comments were confined to, “today was primarily an opportunity to learn more about the AMR26. Both cars took the start and when it became clear we could not compete for points, we chose to pit and check the cars over. The team then asked Fernando to retire the car to preserve components. The data and learnings from this weekend will help us as we go into the next race.” Pedro de la Rosa, the Team Ambassador and who is stepping in increasingly to provide support to Adrian elaborated that they wanted to preserve parts for the race in China as there are only two sets of spares remaining. Alonso told the media, “I think Honda thinks the vibrations on the battery are really reduced with some of the modifications, but that didn’t happen to the chassis yet because they need to isolate the battery in a different way”. There are only a few days before the next race in China and we can only hope that the Honda team in Japan can get the required components and fixes to Shanghai in time.