Fernando Alonso was“super motivated” after testing the AMR26 for the first time at the 2026 F1 Barcelona shakedown.
Aston Martin tested their new AMR26 on Thursday and Friday after announcing their delay to the Barcelona shakedown. Aston Martin was one of two teams with complications for the shakedown. The Silverstone-based team was the only one that did not complete three days of those that did run. Williams announced that they would not attend the shakedown test.
Alonso’s first day on track in 2026 at the F1 Barcelona shakedown
Alonso drove the AMR26 on track for the first time at the F1 Barcelona shakedown on Friday. The Spaniard’s teammate, Lance Stroll, tested the car first on Thursday. Although they had a shorter time in Barcelona, Alonso told Formula1.com that his first day was a “positive one” after clocking 61 laps.
“Yeah it was good, definitely excited to be back in the car and after the winter and you know for us it’s the first day. Iknow some of the teams did filming days or shakedowns at the beginning of January and then the whole week here in Barcelona. But for us, it was really the very first day, so I think we had a positive one. As you said, 60 plus laps and the car is responding well, first day and more to come.”
Shaking everything up in 2026
Adrian Newey stepped away from Red Bull after the team’s technical dominance. The engineer joined Aston Martin as Managing Technical Director in March 2025. Later in November 2025, he moved up to Team Principal.
Aston Martin ended 2026 under a new era with the power relationship with Honda under Newey’s stewardship. With all of these changes, the Silverstone factory made a “tremendous effort” to get the car to Barcelona.
“Yeah, it was very special yesterday with Lance, and today with me in the car, it was special for us. Obviously, the first car made by Adrian [Newey] together with Honda and Aramco.
“All these new rules and especially the last, I think, two weeks has been very, very intense, the factory trying to have the car ready and we just made it to Barcelona in the last two days. I mean, a tremendous effort from everyone, I think it was phenomenal the last 48 hours and, you know, thanks to everyone in the team here at the factory and, yeah, looking forward to Bahrain now.”
Newey “teaching” everyone
The 44-year-old driver shared that Newey’s hands-on approach is keeping everyone “super motivated” at Aston Martin. With this new leadership style, Alonso and the rest of the team are finding improvements ahead of Bahrain.
“Yeah, I think, yeah, everyone is super motivated when we see him in the garage taking care of all the details. I see all the mechanics, the faces, everyone is looking at him, you know, trying to spot something that maybe he comment[s] about the car or he wants to improve. He’s teaching us always something.”
