LANCE STROLL SOUNDS ALARM AS ASTON MARTIN TRAILS LEADERS BY FOUR SECONDS
Aston Martin faces a 4-second deficit! Read Fernando Alonso’s response to Lance Stroll and the latest on Adrian Newey’s AMR26 today.
Fernando Alonso gets where Lance Stroll is coming from. When Stroll said Aston Martin needs to find four seconds with the AMR26, he wasn’t just throwing out numbers; there’s a real gap to close.
But Alonso looks at it a little differently. He thinks there’s still a lot of time to be found out on track, especially as drivers get used to these radically different F1 2026 cars. Aston Martin’s not exactly starting the season in an ideal spot, with the Australian Grand Prix coming up fast and the team still working to catch up.
Right now, everyone’s watching Aston Martin. You can’t blame them. Adrian Newey is in charge of car design, Honda’s coming in with a new works engine, and the team’s new factory and wind tunnel are finally part of the picture. On paper, they’ve got what they need to take a real shot at the championship down the line.
But as Bernie Collins, Aston Martin’s former strategy chief, said, this first season might be rough. They’re still putting all the pieces together.
Testing hasn’t exactly gone to plan, either. They didn’t light up the timing sheets in Bahrain, and things started slowly in Barcelona, with just 54 laps completed.
When Bahrain testing kicked off, Stroll only managed 36 laps on day one and said the team needs to find four seconds. “I don’t think it falls from the sky,” he admitted.
Alonso was asked about all this after the session.
Stroll finished his first day with a 1:39.883, and by the end of testing, he’d shaved it down to 1:38.165. Alonso’s best was a 1:38.248 on the second day.
When people asked Alonso how far behind Aston Martin really is, he shrugged. “Hard to say. Lance said four-and-a-half seconds because that’s how far off we were in Barcelona, and it was about the same in the first two days in Bahrain. So, yeah, there’s a trend, but I don’t really know. Yesterday, I made a mistake in Turn 4, but I still improved by eight tenths by the end of the lap. That shows how many mistakes we’re making every lap right now.
“Sometimes, just changing one setting swings the lap time by eight-tenths up or down. It’s not like we need to find just two tenths. If we optimise things, we could unlock seconds.
“So, let’s see what next week brings. We’re realistic; we won’t be the fastest in Melbourne. We started slow, and we’re still behind, but it’s tough to say exactly where we’ll end up.”
Aston Martin, along with the other nine teams, still has three days of testing left in Bahrain before the season officially kicks off in Australia.
For Alonso, every bit of track time matters right now.
During testing, people pointed out he’d been locking up for three or four laps straight, including a big one. They asked if that’s the kind of challenge he’s facing in the car.
“Yes and no,” he said. “It’s one of the issues, but don’t forget, this is the first time we’ve ever built our own gearbox. First time ever in the history of the team.
“It’s a real challenge, and we need to get better. We need more data. First time building the gearbox, the differential, the clutch – all of it.
“So when we go out, and the downshifts feel rough or whatever, we come back, tweak a few settings, and head back out. Before, we used Mercedes engines and gearboxes, and everything was already sorted. Now, it’s all new for us. That’s why this testing time is so important; we need it to get better.”
WHY MAX VERSTAPPEN BLAMES THE RB22 FOR RED BULL’S 2026 DOWNFALL
Red Bull faces a crisis as Max Verstappen finishes 8th at Suzuka, calling for "stronger" engine deployment before Miami.
Max Verstappen didn’t hold back after a rough weekend at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, making it clear the RB22’s chassis is where Red Bull really needs to step up. He struggled just to stay ahead of an Alpine, and for a guy with four titles, that stings.
Things started going sideways in qualifying; he dropped out in Q2 and had to start 11th on the grid. At first, it looked like he might be able to turn things around. Verstappen got off the line well, jumped past Gabriel Bortoleto, slipped by teammate Isack Hadjar, and then picked off Esteban Ocon and a Haas. That bumped him up to eighth, and after a pit stop for hard tyres under the safety car, things didn't look terrible. Respectable, but not where you expect to see Verstappen.
But then he got stuck behind Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Gasly wasn’t in the mood to make life easy for his old Red Bull teammate. He defended hard, Verstappen couldn’t find a way by, and seventh slipped right out of reach. Not only did Verstappen lose out, but Alpine leapfrogged Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, another sign this season isn’t off to a great start. With Hadjar finishing out of the points too, it’s officially Red Bull’s worst season start since 2015.
Verstappen didn’t mince words afterwards. “I’m always talking with the team,” he told reporters. “We need to figure out this new package. I don’t think it worked that well here. We’ve had a ton of stability problems, and we need to find a more stable balance, plus get a better handle on the engine and deployment. Just be stronger all around.”
Gasly was on top of his game. Even when Verstappen managed to slip past in the Casio Triangle, Gasly punched right back, using his battery deployment and racing sense to reclaim the spot on the main straight. You could feel Verstappen’s frustration at one point; he jokingly waved Gasly back past as the Alpine flew by, which probably says it all.
Now, with the Miami GP over a month away, Red Bull’s got time to dig deep and figure out how to right the ship. Verstappen himself is off to the Nordschleife, getting ready for the Nurburgring 24 Hours in a Mercedes AMG GT3, but you can bet conversations with Red Bull management are coming first.
He’s also baffled and pretty annoyed by the new F1 regulations, especially the need to manage the battery during a qualifying lap. Drivers now have to lift and coast through corners like 130R, sometimes losing 70 km/h due to “Super Clipping,” which just kills the rhythm. “It’s confusing,” Verstappen said. “Now you go faster in qualifying by going slower, less throttle, more lifting. That’s not how it should be.”
It’s not just qualifying that’s a headache. The race showed off some of the dangers these new rules bring. Oliver Bearman had a nasty crash at the Spoon Curve after he ran up on a much slower Franco Colapinto, a 50G impact that left him limping, but thankfully unhurt. The FIA said they’ll hold meetings in April to look at these new regs, so maybe changes are on the way.
For Red Bull and Verstappen, though, there’s no sugarcoating it. The car’s off the pace, and frustration is running high. There’s a lot of work ahead if they want to join the fight at the front again.
THE HARDEST EARNED: WHY LEWIS HAMILTON CALLS HIS FIRST FERRARI GP PODIUM HIS TOUGHEST
Lewis Hamilton reflects on his "hardest-earned" Ferrari podium at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix alongside Bono.
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Lewis Hamilton recently reflected on his first podium finish with Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix, describing it as the hardest podium he’s ever had to earn.
Although he claimed victory in the 2025 Chinese sprint race with Ferrari, he hadn’t made it to the podium in a full grand prix until now. After a refreshing winter break and adapting to the new regulations, Hamilton finally hit that milestone and currently sits fourth in the drivers’ standings.
“I had the sprint race win last year, which was amazing, especially with my dad there,” Hamilton shared with F1 about his initial podium with Ferrari. “Bringing my mum to China this time and sharing that incredible week with her before getting my first podium made it all the more special.”
He went on to say, “I’d been chasing that podium for quite a while, and it honestly felt like I’d never worked so hard to get one. I was really grateful. It felt like my first, even though I’ve had a few before. Being up there in red, alongside Bono and Kimi, remembering his first win and George, brought back a lot of nostalgia.”
Hamilton also spoke about the atmosphere with his team following the achievement, emphasising how much it meant to everyone. “It was huge. The team, especially those in the garage, has been incredible over the last year. Their support has never wavered.”
He continued, “After every weekend where I fell short last year, I’d come back feeling gutted, disappointed that I hadn’t delivered for them. But they were always encouraging, saying, ‘Next time, next time.’ Their positivity kept me going. So, finally reaching the podium and seeing how happy and grateful they were really touched me.”
“That moment fuels me to push even harder, dig deeper, and keep building with the team,” Hamilton concluded.
