Aston Martin announced on Monday that they will head to Barcelona with their 2026 Formula 1 car, the AMR26, later this week to take part in the private shakedown.
Aston Martin were AWOL in Barcelona on Monday, and while Williams announced they will not take part at all, as Ferrari and McLaren planned to skip the first day, the Silverstone squad did not provide any details regarding their plans.
As a result, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls, Alpine, Cadillac, Audi, and Haas were the outfits that kicked off the private test in Barcelona.
It wasn't until Monday afternoon that Aston Martin provided an update on their plans.
The Silverstone-based squad said in a statement: "The AMR26 will be in Barcelona later this week for its shakedown.
"Our intention is to run Thursday and Friday," the team concluded, which ultimately means that they will lose one of their three days of running allowed.
The AMR26 is a significant car for Aston Martin, as it is the first designed on Adrian Newey's watch, who joined them back in 2025 as a Managing Technical Partner and later became Team Principal.
It is also the first car the team produces while having a works agreement for their power unit having signed with Honda.
However, the delay is not a good sign, and while Newey is known to push the development of his cars till the last minute, the delay of his first-ever Aston Martin car is not ideal.
It was notable that the legendary F1 designer was absent from the Honda event held where the Japanese manufacturer revealed their 2026 power unit, which leads us to speculate that maybe the team was lagging behind in development and he needed to stay in the factory to oversee the finalization of the AMR26.
Aston Martin planned their 2026 F1 season launch event on February 9.
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