Lance Stroll has acknowledged that Aston Martin F1 Team are currently off the pace of their Formula One rivals and face a significant challenge to catch up ahead of the 2026 season.

The AMR26 is the team’s first car under the technical direction of entity “people”, “Adrian Newey”, “formula 1 engineer”, who joined from Red Bull Racing last March. While the car has drawn attention from competitors, it was late to appear in last month’s Barcelona shakedown and lost further track time during testing in Bahrain this week.

“We’re still learning the car, the engine, but we have a lot of work to do and catching up to do. We have probably 400 fewer laps than the competition from Barcelona and everything we missed,” Stroll said.

The Canadian, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, explained that Aston Martin must adapt to “a combination of things: engine, balance, grip.” He added, “Right now, we look like we’re four seconds off the top teams, four-and-a-half seconds. It’s impossible to know the fuel loads and setups other teams are running. Now we need to try and find four seconds of performance, so we’ll see.”

Teammate Fernando Alonso echoed Stroll’s concerns, emphasizing that the team must unlock more performance. “We are a little bit on the back foot, we have to admit that, but hopefully there is time to improve,” Alonso said.

“On the chassis there is no doubt—we have the best with us. After 30-plus years of Adrian Newey dominating the sport, I think no one will doubt that we will eventually have the best car. On the power unit, we need to wait and see when we unlock all the performance, where we are and what is missing, and then work hard.”

Aston Martin, who finished seventh in the Constructors’ Championship last season, are embarking on a new exclusive partnership with Honda after previously using Mercedes engines.

The 2026 season gets underway in Australia on March 8th.