Aston Martin is struggling with massive delays in the Bahrain tests—the team does not expect an immediate turnaround despite Adrian Newey.
Aston Martin had high hopes for the new regulations—but the ongoing test drives in Bahrain have been sobering. Team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa speaks openly about the deficit.
“We are on a steep learning curve,” explains the Spaniard. “Until yesterday, we were the team with the fewest laps from Barcelona, shakedown, and Bahrain. We are clearly behind schedule.”
Instead of working on setup or specifically optimizing performance, the current focus is simply on racking up miles: aeromapping, energy management, tuning basics. “We’re hardly changing the setup. We’re just trying to drive as many laps as possible,” says de la Rosa. A real performance analysis is still a long way off.
De la Rosa: “No five-minute solution”
The gap is significant—Lance Stroll sees his team as being four and a half to five seconds behind. De la Rosa does not fundamentally disagree with the magnitude of the gap, but puts it into perspective: “When you lose that amount of time, it’s the whole package. It’s not just one area.“
Weaknesses have been identified and solutions are already being worked on at Silverstone. But there will be no quick turnaround. ”There will be no overnight solution. This is not a five-minute job. It takes a lot of work, a lot of learning and optimization.”
Nevertheless, he emphasizes: “We’re not happy—no one is happy when you’re two seconds slower than expected. But we’re not worried either. We have the team, the resources, and the structure.”
So were the wrong decisions made in the past? What if Adrian Newey had started earlier? And what if Honda’s return had been less of a rush job and more clearly planned? “Those are all ‘ifs’ and ‘buts,’” says de la Rosa. “At the end of the day, what matters is that we are too slow. So we need a plan.”
Alonso: Full confidence only in the chassis department
Fernando Alonso also remains realistic. The Spaniard will turn 45 this year, and the new regulations were considered possibly his last big chance at a title—but currently, there is little to suggest an immediate turnaround.
“I have full confidence in the chassis,” says Alonso. “After more than 30 years of dominance, Adrian won’t suddenly have forgotten everything.” When it comes to understanding the power unit, however, they are not yet at the necessary level. Alonso puts the reported gap of four and a half seconds into perspective: “We were four and a half seconds behind in Barcelona, and here on the first two days as well. It seems to be a trend.”
Alonso: We may be able to find seconds
At the same time, he points to the extreme instability of the current setup: “I had a lap where I braked too late in turn four. From there to the finish, I was eight tenths faster. That shows how many mistakes and fluctuations there are in our laps.”
Perhaps in the end it’s not about two tenths, but whole seconds that can be uncovered through optimization. Nevertheless, Alonso makes it clear: “We won’t be the fastest in Melbourne. We’re starting on the slow side and from a defensive position.”
How long will the race to catch up take? No one at Aston Martin knows at the moment. One thing is clear: even the ambitious Silverstone team isn’t expecting a miracle cure overnight. Most recently, there was talk of a four-month development delay.
