The Aston Martin F1 team has finally revealed its run plans for the pre-season test at Barcelona after missing out on important running on the first day of the planned test. The team claims that it is now aiming to complete running later in the week, namely on Thursday, 29 January, and Friday, 30 January.
Aston Martin missed out on any running on day one of the first pre-season test on Monday, January 26. This is the first test ahead of the 2026 F1 season and is being conducted over five days at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. The test has been organized by the 11 teams on the grid and is a closed-door affair with no official TV coverage.
The original plan was for all 11 teams to run during the test to test out their 2026 challengers ahead of a brand new regulations era, which kicks in this year. These new rules have changed quite a lot about the F1 cars as they impact both aerodynamics and the engine. Active Aerodynamics have been introduced to replace the DRS on the cars, while the new power units offer an almost 50-50 split between electrical and petrol.
Hence, this extra five-day test was organized by the teams, in addition to the two official three-day tests at Bahrain later in February, making it a total of 11 days of testing ahead of the new season. As previously mentioned, all 11 teams were originally expected to take part in Barcelona.
But as we got closer to the test, the Williams F1 team announced that it would not be taking part in the test due to delays relating to their new FW48 car. Later, it was also announced that Aston Martin will miss at least the first day of testing due to delays around their new challenger as well.
After missing out on the first day, the Silverstone-based outfit has now finally announced its run plan for the test, as they are all set to miss out on three more days of the test in the Spanish city. Now, the Adrian Newey-led team will complete all their running on the final two days of the test, Thursday, 29 January, and Friday, 30 January.
“The AMR26 will be in Barcelona later this week for its shakedown. Our intention is to run Thursday and Friday,” the team announced via a social media post.
All teams are allowed to run a total of three days out of the five, meaning all other competitors (except Williams) will have an extra day to test their new cars out when compared to Aston Martin. Missing out on a whole day of testing is very obviously less than ideal for the British team that is looking to make big strides towards the front of the field in 2026.
Lawrence Stroll “confident” as Aston Martin and Honda kick off partnership
The Aston Martin F1 team and Honda kicked off their new partnership in the sport on Tuesday, January 20, as the Japanese company officially unveiled their 2026 power unit in Tokyo. The owner of the F1 outfit, Lawrence Stroll, expressed his confidence that this new marriage would result in race wins in the near future.
“The strong collaboration between the AMR Technology Centre at Silverstone and Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in Sakura demonstrates the depth of our partnership. We are confident that we have all the elements required to fight for victory in the future and we have tremendous faith in Honda’s power unit and the engineers behind it,” said Stroll. [via Formula1.com]
Stroll was joined by Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe and F1 chief Stefano Domenicali during the event as HRC finally revealed the power unit that will be exclusively in the back of the AMR26 in 2026.
Aston Martin is moving away from a Mercedes customer team after having used the German manufacturer’s power unit since 2009. The partnership began after the team was rebranded as Force India in 2009, and stayed on through later rebrands, including Racing Point and eventually Aston Martin.
Honda is also moving away from its very successful partnership with Red Bull Racing that lasted for seven seasons from 2019-2025. During this period, the team won four drivers’ titles and two constructors’ championships. Now, Red Bull is developing its own power units from 2026 onwards, with some help and expertise from American automobile giants Ford.
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