The Aston Martin team have admitted they are to miss at least one day of their allotted three at Formula One’s first pre-season test in Barcelona and will not run their car before Thursday at the earliest. They are the second team to fail to take full advantage of the opening test after Williams also announced they would be unable to take to the track at all in Spain.
Testing is taking place from Monday to Friday this week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with teams able to use three of the five days to assess their cars. They have been designed to entirely new regulations and with new engines this season and consequently three full pre-season tests are being held. But as the track running began, Aston Martin conceded they would not be there at the off and issued a statement.
“The AMR26 will be in Barcelona later this week for its shakedown. Our intention is to run Thursday and Friday,” the statement read.
While not a major setback, it will be of concern, perhaps indicating there is still considerable work to be done on the AMR26, the first car to be designed for the team by Adrian Newey, who has also now taken over as team principal. The drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will now have at best two days between them behind the wheel in the first test.
Under the ownership of Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin have invested hugely, including building an entirely new factory complex and wind tunnel at Silverstone with no little optimism that the new rules and Newey’s impact would prove a stepping stone toward the front of the grid.
No reasons were given for the delay in coming to the track but, at the launch for the team’s Honda engines in Tokyo last week, senior figures at the Japanese manufacturer were expressing concern that their power unit was not where they required it to be with the season to start in Melbourne on 8 March.
Seven teams did take to the track on Monday: Mercedes, Audi, Alpine, Cadillac, Racing Bulls, Haas and Red Bull. Ferrari are due to make their first laps on Tuesday and last year’s drivers’ and constructors’ champions, McLaren, have yet to confirm whether they will open their account on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The test is taking place behind closed doors in Barcelona and the priority for teams is to put mileage on the cars and engines in what is being called a “shakedown” before two further tests in Bahrain. Information being released is extremely limited but it was noticeable that all seven teams did complete laps in to double figures, a strong start after such a major regulation change, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli clocking up more than 20 in the opening two hours.
