Aston Martin’s season start has been nothing short of a “horror story”, says Sky Sports’ F1 pundit Martin Brundle – and he’s not wrong.
There’s no debate that Aston Martin have had a woeful start to their 2026 campaign, and their near future does not look too bright either, with Brundle stating there is “no quick fix”.
Aston Martin’s performance so far
Aston Martin’s troubles started way back in pre-season testing with not just a poor engine or a slow car, but one that was vibrating itself to pieces.
The vibrations in the car are so bad that they were classed as dangerous to the hands and fingers of the drivers.
Their race results so far are showing the continued struggles at the time.
In Melbourne, Fernando Alonso failed to finish the race, and team-mate Lance Stroll retired the car but went back out to complete the race 15 laps down, so neither car completed the full race distance.
China proved an even worse showing, with both cars failing to finish the race.
Japan saw a slight improvement with Alonso completing the whole race distance and finishing in 18th, but team-mate Stroll had another DNF with a car issue.
So far, Aston Martin have not been racing but using the races as another test session to gather important data to try and work out both the engine and car gremlins.
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Martin Brundle’s assessment
After Japan’s race, Stroll joked in the media that he and Alonso are having “our own Aston Martin championship”.
On the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Brundle called Stroll’s comment “painful” and like “salt in the wound”.
Expanding on the troubles of the car, Brundle added: “It’s a nightmare whichever way you look at it, they’ve got neither speed nor reliability.”
As to fixing the issues, Brundle claimed that there was “no quick fix”.
“And in the days of relentless Formula 1 championship calendars and cost caps, it’s going to be very difficult to turn that around in time, and they’ve got to work out what to do first,” he said.
“It’s not going to improve until 2027. It’s a horror show, and we’re just going to have to observe that pain.
“Of course, they will improve it to an extent, but they’re missing three, four seconds sometimes per lap.
“I mean, that’s like a different category they’re in at the moment to the front runners. So, watch this space, but it’ll be a while,” he concluded.
Brundle’s assessment is accurate and fair.
Aston Martin are in a dire situation for a team that put so much focus into the 2026 season and signed the greatest car designer in F1 history.
So for now, with points well off the table, Aston Martin can only celebrate finishing a race and gaining lap time, a more-than-disappointing situation.
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