The Formula 1 world was shocked when Adrian Newey revealed plans to leave Red Bull Racing and join Aston Martin. His car designs have won 14 Drivers' and 12 Constructors' titles and 223 Grands Prix between 1991 and 2024, so to call the move a game-changer is an understatement.
Newey has since been announced as Aston Martin's Team Principal, a vastly different role for the engineer and aerodynamicist. Much has been said about how hands-on he can be with the car design while overseeing the entire team, but 2026 promises to be an exciting year.
Today, we have a first look at Aston Martin's 2026 challenger, the AMR26. It's a vastly different car from others we've seen, and while it's too soon to say whether that's a positive or negative, it has everyone talking.
This car is seemingly pushing the boundaries of what's allowed under the new regulations. It's running pushrod suspension front and rear. Up front, the top wishbone is mounted extremely high with a wide spread on the inboard attachment points; that should help to maximise aero freedom and stiffness.
At the rear, the upper wishbone pick-ups are also very high on the gearbox, while the lower wishbone sits extremely low. Crucially, the sidepods are basically a "zero-pod" concept taken to the absolute extreme. They're skinny enough that it's hard not to wonder how they've squeezed the radiators in there.
The cooling inlet is a tall, narrow letterbox shape up high, and the hot air exit is dumped quite far forward on the engine cover sides. There's also a massive undercut on the engine cover right behind the exit, likely to help avoid overheating issues.
In effect, those sidepods create an extreme version of a double-floor concept. That means the body's cross-section (the amount of air the car has to push out of the way) gets narrower much faster from front to rear compared to anything else we've seen so far. Less air being displaced means lower drag, which could be a big advantage under the current regulations.
Has Newey created a car that can win Aston Martin a Championship? Timings from this week's Barcelona Shakedown have pointed to Mercedes dominance in 2026, but the odds of Fernando Alonso winning one more Drivers' Championship so suddenly seem a little higher.