Aston Martin is already scary, the confidence of the former boss: “We are a little late, but proud to be here”

F1, the debut of the Aston Martin 2026 It was long awaited and even desired, but when it then showed itself on the track in all its carbon-coloured splendor, it left many observers – of the few official photos shown on social media – speechless with its extreme choices. Thus the first Aston Martin F1 designed by the genius Adrian Newey attracted attention despite running on the track for less than an hour, making its debut at 5pm and stopping just before the end of the works, causing the red flag which effectively closed day 4 of the shakedown test in Barcelona. Nothing particularly serious, since these tests serve precisely this purpose, with the former team principal and head of engineers on the track Mike Krack expressing emotion and satisfaction in seeing the AMR26 really at work for the first time in the hands of Lance Stroll (today, however, things are getting serious and Fernando Alonso is behind the wheel). Krack admits the delay “Witnessing the debut of a new car – explains the Aston Martin engineer to the official F1 website – is always exciting. In the last few days we have worked hard and there is still a lot to do, but I think we can breathe a sigh of relief and be happy to have made the car’s debut. A great moment for the team and a tribute to the hard work that everyone has done. Obviously we find ourselves in a particular situation because we welcome Honda, our new engine partner, and because we made our first change in many years (it was previously bought by Mercedes, together with the power unit, ed.) It’s a huge change but now we’re a factory team and we have Adrian Newey, so it’s all very exciting. F1 doesn’t wait, we were a little late, but we managed to participate in the shakedown and I think we can be proud of that.” Aston Martin, Honda and the objectives of the F1 shakedown A debut not without some moments of tension, given the delay in the assembly of the car, which was assembled practically for the first time in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya: “The conversations before that moment were along the lines of ‘When are we going out? When will the car be ready?’. But you always have to make sure that everything is safe and more or less reliable, you can’t skimp on these aspects. The rules are complex, the cars are complex and you can’t take any shortcut in these situations. Then, yes, when the car leaves the pits, it’s a nice moment. After 30 seconds, however, everyone was wondering ‘When will we be able to do some performance testing?’ “It was basically a matter of installing and testing – adds the Luxembourg engineer – but we are in the shakedown week and we must not forget that. Now it’s a matter of accumulating laps, learning to work together, integrating with the Honda and making the most of the days. The weather will be good, we have plenty of tires available and we can’t wait.” Finally, Krack also spoke about the new relationship with Honda, which after the victories with Red Bull is throwing itself into a new challenge as exclusive supplier for Aston Martin F1: “We still have to get to know the people well, learn their names and understand how to work together, but it was a good start, with a few smiles. Now our goal is to use this moment to integrate as much as possible and learn to work together. But I’m very confident.”