Aston Martin's new F1 tools still have to be "fully debugged"

Aston Martin's Bob Bell has lifted the lid on the Formula 1 team's transformation ahead of 2026, with F1's regulation change coinciding with brand-new facilities, a change of engine partner and several key areas being brought in-house.

Lawrence Stroll's team has invested in brand-new headquarters in Silverstone, including a recently commissioned state-of-the-art wind tunnel.

Ostensibly those new tools, coupled with key hires like design guru Adrian Newey, should enable Aston Martin to deliver on Stroll's grand ambitions to fight for world titles as F1 enters its next regulatory era in 2026.

But former Renault veteran Bob Bell, who is Aston's executive technical director, has explained why turning all of the squad's recent investment into results won't happen overnight.

"Given where we are on our journey, the 2026 regulation change is perhaps a bigger challenge for Aston Martin than it is for other teams. There are many pieces of the puzzle we need to put together to be ready for 2026," Bell said.

Bob Bell, Aston Martin Executive Director – Technical

Photo by: Aston Martin

"We're almost a brand-new team – our team is almost unrecognisable from the team it was when Aston Martin returned to the sport in 2021. We've had a significant increase in headcount; we're transitioning to be a works team; and we have these wonderful, cutting-edge new facilities... but we have to bring them all online.

"These things need to be refined, they need to be optimised, they have to be fully debugged. That takes time and a lot of effort. It isn't just a case of turning them on and starting work."

That process of refinement is one reason why continuing to develop the 2025 car is such a useful exercise for the team. Not just for improving its fortunes this year, which appear to have been handed a boost with the team's Imola upgrades, but also with a view to ensuring its development procedures are hitting the right notes, which has been an issue in recent seasons for Aston.

Aston's Imola upgrade package was developed in both the old and new wind tunnel, the last time the team said it will have used Mercedes' facility, with the information it has since gathered from the triple-header helping it to further correlate its new tunnel.

"Up until very recently, we used the Mercedes wind tunnel in Brackley, a few miles down the road from the AMR Technology Campus in Silverstone. That wind tunnel was built a long time ago, it's completely debugged, it's fully optimised, it's working at the peak of its capability," Bell explained. "To bring our brand-new tunnel up to that standard in a short space of time will be difficult. That's all running in the background alongside developing a 2026 car."

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Other changes including integrating new engine partner Honda and Aston's departure from Mercedes also mean the former Force India and Racing Point squad will be building its own gearboxes in-house for the first time in 16 years.

"There are new elements of the package that our team will have to produce. Take the transmission: the last time this team developed its own gearbox was in 2008," Bell added. "We'll be creating new rear suspension, our own pit equipment and various pieces of software. Many things that we currently source from Mercedes as a customer will go away and we have to do them for ourselves.

"The philosophy is that you're not going to beat someone if you’re using their kit, as they will always have a lead on you, but getting ourselves ready to be a works team is a huge undertaking – and opportunity – and makes preparing for 2026 much broader than 'simply' building a new car. That's the tip of the iceberg. The stuff under the water is vast."