After missing the opening three days of the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown, Aston Martin’s AMR26 finally appeared on track with Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack calling it an ’emotional’ milestone.
Mike Krack on first steps for Aston Martin at 2026 F1 Barcelona shakedown
Lance Stroll took on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Thursday afternoon, completing four laps via a series of initial installation runs for the team.
“Like each time when you have a new car, it’s always emotional, a very exciting moment,” said Krack after seeing the new Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin roll out of the garage.
“A lot of hard work went into it over the last days. There’s still a lot of work to come, but I think today we can take a breath and be happy that we rolled out the car. It was, as I said, really emotional, a nice moment for the team, and a tribute to the hard work that everybody put in. F1 is relentless, you always have to look forward, and there will be much more hard work to come, but we’re looking forward to that.”
The road to Barcelona Shakedown
The team’s delay came from navigating the demands of F1’s 2026 regulation changes, alongside a switch in their power unit supplier. After a long-term partnership with Mercedes-AMG, Aston Martin has partnered with Honda from 2026 onwards. This partnership is key, as it marks a major shift for the team and could ultimately affect the car’s reliability and performance.
Speaking of the hard work and changes, Krack said, “We obviously are in a bit of a unique situation. We welcome Honda, our new power unit partner, we have made our first gearbox in many, many years, and you pair that with new chassis regulations, new power unit regulations. So, basically, you could say it’s the worst case or the best case, but it’s a huge change for us as a team, to be a works team, a factory team, together with these regulations.”
Another major change came when Adrian Newey joined the Silverstone-based team after 19 years at Red Bull Racing.
“Then we have Adrian on board, so it’s all very exciting, and a lot of change,” highlighted Krack. “And then, you know, Formula 1 is not waiting for you, so you have to be ready. We were now a little bit late, but we made it to this test, so I think we can be proud and happy of that achievement.”
From Mercedes-AMG to Honda F1 power in 2026
When asked about the integration of the power unit and the new partnership with Honda, Krack explained that the team is still adjusting to the change but is excited about the future.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s still fresh, obviously, and also when you have such a long relationship with the previous partner [Mercedes-AMG], you need to know the people, you need to learn their names, how you work with each other, what are your expectations, what are the responsibilities, and all these kind of things. But it was a good start, a few smiles between ourselves and them. It’s our goal, obviously, to use this time now to integrate as, as much as we can, to learn how to work together. But I’m very confident.”
Before joining forces with Aston Martin, Honda partnered with Red Bull Racing for seven seasons, helping them achieve multiple Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
“They are racers, they are very open, you can challenge them,” said Krack, praising Honda’s approach. “It’s really nice, and I’m looking forward to continuing that relationship.”
Behind the scenes ahead of the 2026 Barcelona shakedown
Krack further revealed several key insights into Aston Martin’s mindset and priorities before and during the car’s first run at the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown.
“Well, I can only tell you the conversation before that moment. They were, you know, ‘When do we go out? When is the car ready? When is the car ready?’ But, as a trackside team, you always have to make sure that, first of all, everything is safe, everything is more or less reliable. You know, you must not cut corners on these topics, ‘cause, as I said before, the regulations are complex, the cars are complex, and you must not cut corners in such situations.”
He added: “But then, yeah, when the car goes out, it’s a nice moment, but after 30 seconds, everyone moves into, you know, like, ‘When can we do performance runnings?’ ‘Is everything working?’ And ‘when is the next step and the next stage?’ and all that. So, it’s relentless, but I think you have to use the moments. You know, like, the first lap of a new car is always an emotional situation for everyone. So, it was quite nice. Fernando [Alonso] on the pit wall, I want him in the car, not on the pit wall, to be honest. But to have Lance going out, it was nice. It was a nice moment.”
Pre-season goals
With January 20th marking the final day of the Barcelona Shakedown, Aston Martin will continue collecting data as Fernando Alonso takes to the circuit.
Krack shared the team’s goals for testing: “Yeah, we need to get going. This was basically installing today, shaking it down. I mean, we are in shakedown week, we must not forget. And it’s now about, you know, accumulating laps, accumulating runs, learn how to work with each other, integrate Honda, and yeah, make the maximum out of the day. The weather will be good. We have a lot of tires, so we were looking forward to it.”
Beyond Barcelona, Aston Martin is set to reveal their 2026 livery on February 9th and continue testing their AMR26 challenger in Bahrain from February 11-13 and 18-20.
