Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 analyst Karun Chandhok has urged Aston Martin to stop finger-pointing amid the Silverstone outfit’s troublesome start to the 2026 season.
The Lawrence Stroll-led team headed into the 2026 season, which welcomed a new wave of regulations into the championship, with a new power unit partnership with Honda and the technical leadership of Adrian Newey. It’s safe to say expectations were high.
But after only being able to complete a minimal amount of laps at pre-season testing, Aston Martin is facing major issues with its machinery. After fighting through a difficult first couple of grands prix, its Japanese campaign showed improvements, albeit minimal.
“They’ve got a good plough on, haven’t they? What are they gonna do? They can’t change engines. They can’t just magically turn back time. They’re in it now. They’ve got to just try and work in a collaborative way,” Chandhok told Sky Sports F1 in Japan.
“They’ve got to try to avoid the finger-pointing, I think. They’ve got to find a way to harmoniously come out of this situation they find themselves in. And it’s not easy.
“I feel a lot of sympathy for Lawrence Stroll. He’s somebody who’s invested a lot of money into this project. They’ve built an incredible factory, new wind tunnel. They’ve gone down this path, they’re committed to a new gearbox, and the whole thing was geared around new regulations, moving them from being midfield to a top five team. And it’s not happened.
“So a sense of frustration, but now you’re in it, you’ve just got to try and just plough on and make it work.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins believes it could take the rest of the season for the team to turn its performance around.
“I think it’s going to be pretty slow, to be honest. Because I think anything engine, gearbox-related is a long lead time item,” she explained.
“They’re beginning to understand the issues. Each week, they’re trying slightly different things in order to try and help the vibrations, which we think is the biggest problem coming from the engine.
“But if it’s a fundamental design buried within the engine, it’s very difficult to change quickly, and yes, they’re going to be allowed a bit more development time in terms of that engine, but my understanding is it’s not going to be quick changes.
“So, the first point is to learn and understand, and then it’s to try and get a new engine, but I think they could be in for a pretty rough year for the entire season.”
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