Aston Martin has high hopes for the 2026 season. Investment in the new factory, in qualified personnel, such as the arrival of Adrian Newey, and above all, the new wind tunnel, make the team optimistic and they are looking to the progress made by McLaren in the hope of a better result in the next championship.
Aston Martin and the example of McLaren
The moves that Aston Martin has made in recent years are nothing new in Formula 1. In fact, it is common for teams that, throughout history, have taken a step forward in the evolution of their cars to reach the top of F1. The most recent example is McLaren. Eight years ago it was at the back of the grid, little by little it invested more money in qualified personnel and in optimizing its facilities, but the giant leap forward came in 2023, when they unveiled their new wind tunnel.
Aston Martin has followed these same steps, perhaps investing even more than the current World Champions and in less time, with two final touches that have arrived almost at the same time, the arrival of Adrian Newey and the premiere of the long-awaited wind tunnel. McLaren premiered it in October 2023 and last season they took off in a way unimaginable for the big circus, going on to win the Constructors’ World Championship. The effects were almost immediate (with the break between one season and the next), and that is what they hope will happen now with Aston Martin.
Aston Martin’s wind tunnel
Aston Martin unveiled its wind tunnel at almost the same time as the arrival of Adrian Newey on March 3. Aston Martin had the option of using the Mercedes wind tunnel before the World Championship began, but preferred to save the hours in order to optimize the results with their own. This could be an indicator of the current situation of Aston Martin on the grid and the reason why the team, despite the results, is hopeful about the future.
It has only been in operation for just over a month and the factory says that calibration takes time. However, the new tunnel should be able to bear its first fruits with the new parts, but it is expected to be much more advanced by the middle of the season and optimized for next year.
First parts with the new wind tunnel
This is why Aston Martin is so hopeful about the upcoming updates. The first, very slight ones will be at the Miami GP, the next round of the championship after the Saudi Arabian GP this weekend. But the big package, with which they hope to reap the rewards of the wind tunnel, will be after Miami, on the weekend of May 16-18 with the Italian F1 GP at Imola.
This new package will bring the first pieces of the new wind tunnel, it will be the first contact to see if the work being done at Silverstone is going well. One could say that the AMR25 is the “guinea pig” for optimizing the AMR26 next season. And if everything has gone as expected, it could be a real step forward for Aston Martin. Aston Martin has reason to be optimistic, the first parts of the new wind tunnel are on the way, they have the benchmark of McLaren a year ago and they hope to follow in the footsteps of the current World Champion.