Aston Martin staged a public launch in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to reveal the AMR26 and its new satin green livery; a livestream of the event suffered technical glitches. The car is the first Aston Martin design under Adrian Newey and the team’s first works partnership with Honda. The AMR26 ran in an all-black/exposed-carbon test guise during a Barcelona shakedown two weeks earlier, appearing late on Day 4 and logging 65 laps.

Newey now serves as team principal while remaining managing technical partner. The AMR26 shows notable design changes, including revised suspension concepts, very tight engine-bay packaging to accommodate Honda’s RA626H power unit, and a move away from some Mercedes customer components toward an in-house gearbox and rear-suspension solution. Honda praised the electric side of the RA626H while expressing less satisfaction with its combustion element; reports around the return of works engines referenced regulatory disputes such as an interpretation over compression ratios involving Mercedes.

Organisational shifts accompany the technical overhaul: Andy Cowell has moved to chief strategy officer to coordinate Honda integration, and Aston Martin has completed factory upgrades and a new wind tunnel. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were retained for a fourth successive season; Alonso has framed 2026 as a critical campaign, and owner Lawrence Stroll publicly defended the investment in the team.

With limited early mileage from Barcelona, Aston Martin will run two Bahrain pre-season test windows, Feb 11–13 and Feb 18–20, to build running, validate the car’s concepts and assess reliability before the championship begins. The AMR26, its Honda power unit and the reworked organisation were presented as the centerpiece of a technical, livery and competitive reset ahead of the 2026 season.

Sources

Sky SportsMotorsport Magazine – Formula 1AS – F1The Race – F1PlanetF1 – Formula 1RaceFans – F1Autosport