Feb.17 (GMM) Aston Martin’s 2026 troubles may extend beyond Honda’s power unit and cooling concerns, with Spain’s Marca reporting that the team’s first in-house gearbox is also struggling under the demands of the new regulations.
The Silverstone outfit has switched from Mercedes-supplied transmissions to its own design this season – but the new energy-heavy era is exposing weaknesses.
A key feature of 2026 driving is aggressive downshifting, sometimes as low as first gear even under braking, to maximise energy harvesting. Max Verstappen was among the first seen mastering the technique in Bahrain testing, while others have attempted to copy it with varying success.
Carlos Sainz summed up the delicate balance required.
“I insist, the integration of the power unit, the gearbox, and the driver’s preferences must be a closed loop,” he said. “The moment one of those two or three things doesn’t work exactly as desired, problems begin, so everyone will have to adapt and find the right path.”
According to Marca, Aston’s gearbox “cannot handle the new demands” of high-rev, low-gear cornering and braking in the current format. Experts cited by the newspaper suggest a full redesign could take up to six months – potentially until July.
That timeline would align with Fernando Alonso’s earlier prediction that Aston may only become truly competitive in the second half of the season.
Another reported weak point is Honda’s internal combustion engine, which is said to suffer from significant vibrations at high revs – an issue that may also affect gearbox durability.
With the 2026 engines due for homologation on March 1, sources suggest a new hardware specification before Melbourne is unlikely. Software updates aimed at unlocking performance are in development, but the physical engine will remain unchanged for the opening races.
A possible partial remedy could come later in the season via the FIA’s balance mechanism for underperforming manufacturers, but paddock chatter suggests Aston may carry a deficit of some level until 2027.
Team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa stopped short of blaming a single component.
“It’s all a package deal these days,” he said. “With these new regulations, braking performance affects straight-line speed, because the ability to harvest under braking and your stability under braking is very strong.
“You can downshift another gear at the apex, which means you have more energy on the next straight. We just need to make the car more robust overall.”
Alonso, meanwhile, remains publicly optimistic.
“At the car presentation, we said that we might find ourselves lagging behind at the start of the season, but the second half of the year should be better. I still stand by that opinion,” he said.
“The car we bring to Melbourne will be very different from the one we’re testing. We have a guy (Adrian Newey) with 30 years of Formula 1 experience. He’s dominated all that time, so we’ll eventually get the best car. It’s a matter of time.”
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