‘It’s weighing on everyone’ – Aston Martin review painful Barcelona weekend as wait for major update package continues

After the troubled start to the 2026 season, Aston Martin Team Principal Adrian Newey made a bold decision to focus on one major upgrade package for later in the year, rather than a series of smaller updates.

Inevitably, the strategy means that race weekends are currently painful exercises, especially as rivals are developing fast and moving even further ahead, with newcomers Cadillac in particular serving as a benchmark.

Monaco provided a rare boost when Fernando Alonso took advantage of attrition and penalties for others to claim a point, giving everyone in the Aston Martin and Honda camps some encouragement.

Barcelona, in contrast, was always going to be difficult. The AMR26s qualified 21st and 22nd, with Lance Stroll ahead of his team mate, and both then retired from the race with mechanical issues, Alonso having started from the pit lane after adding power unit elements to his pool.

It was especially frustrating for the Spaniard, who was at least able to enjoy the support he received, especially during the drivers’ parade.

“It was the best part of the weekend,” he said. “The fans were incredible the whole weekend. That was a very, very nice feeling, a very emotional weekend for me, maybe the last in Barcelona. So, off the car, I enjoyed every minute.

“Unfortunately, we didn't give to them what they deserve in terms of results. So, hopefully our second part of the year we can improve the situation.” It was just as difficult for everyone in the team.

“I feel sorry for all the fans in green shirts in the grandstands, in the paddock,” Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack conceded. “There were many. When we drove in and out it was so nice to see all these people with the green shirts, and we could not give them anything to cheer about.”

The lack of recent progress and what seems like an interminable wait for the upgrade package is difficult for everyone at Aston.

“It’s weighing on everyone,” Krack admitted. “You can feel it in the garage, you can feel it especially with the drivers. It’s a very difficult situation. On the other hand, we have a strong leader, and the decision was made to upgrade then, and it’s for all of us to commit to that decision, even if it’s difficult.

“And it is our job to keep the motivation high, to learn as much as you can. I think there are a lot of things that we can improve still with this car. It will be easy to say, ‘We just go in circles and wait for the upgrades’. Some of the problems we have will still be there, so we need to solve them.”

That desire for knowledge gives some focus to the upcoming races. However, it also makes weekends like Barcelona even more frustrating – a pair of full race distances would have provided valuable data.

“You always learn new things, crazy as it might sound when you are between three and four seconds off, like you are driving in a different category,” said Krack of Barcelona. “But still, you learn a lot.

“And I think we learned a great deal, how we have to adjust our processes to get the maximum out of it, so there are some small positives.”

It’s not easy to maintain morale in the camp. However, Alonso knows that part of his job is to do just that.

“We need to stay together, for sure,” he said after Sunday’s race. “That point in Monaco proves that we are not giving up today. Even if we were at the back of the grid, we were able to finish the race and take whatever opportunity came at the end with Safety Cars, or whatever.

“And then we have hopes for the second part of the year with improvements that we can be a little bit more competitive, and we keep on working.

“But we need to see some results as well, eventually we need to see some of the upgrades to make the car faster. Also, the last few years some of the upgrades didn’t make the car really fast as we wanted. So, there are some things to prove with this year’s upgrades, and we are all hoping for the best.”