Aston Martin's Full Appearance at F1's Australian Grand Prix in Doubt

Aston Martin's February could not have strayed any further from what the team wanted.

Although rumors of issues were floating around, reliability issues put a hamper on the team's efforts all throughout testing in Bahrain despite optimism from veteran driver Fernando Alonso.

The atmosphere surrounding the team is reportedly complicated, and it could emerge soon that the two Aston Martin cars will only take part in a limited running at Albert Park for the first race of the season.

Legendary F1 driver admits there has been 'no time' for Aston Martin to improve circumstances

Adrian Newey's tenure as Aston Martin's team principal has been a complicated one so far. | Aston Martin F1 Team

Pedro de la Rosa is a name well-known to Formula One fans of the 2000s and early 2010s, having spent time most notably at McLaren, Sauber and HRT.

The Spaniard is now a team representative at Aston Martin and spoke to Formula One about where the team is heading into the new season.

On improvements to the car, de la Rosa emphasized it was not just one issue holding the team back:

“There are so many things on the list to be tested that we haven’t had time to [sort out] - physically no time... we have identified clearly what the biggest priorities are... it’s impossible to say it’s just one area - there are a lot of things... we’re in the phase of understanding what we have more than the optimisation part of it."

Partnered with slow pace in testing combined with the known reliability issues which meant they completed the least amount of laps out of any team on the grid in pre-season, there is also reason to believe the team might not race for the full duration of the Australian Grand Prix.

A post from Motorsport.com Italia on X details the hysteria around the team, with the post highlighting the lack of spare parts that the team has, potentially meaning we might only see Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll complete a 'few laps' around Albert Park.

#F1 | Aston Martin: a Melbourne con carenza di ricambi Honda, farà pochi giri?https://t.co/IMbXxOnFuG
— Motorsport.com Italia (@Motorsport_IT) March 2, 2026

This news has led to further coverage in English-speaking media, with it appearing that Aston Martin is not going to be in Australia for any other reason than to tick the race off of their calendar and head to the Chinese Grand Prix with as much strength as they can muster.

🚨 | The consensus regarding Aston Martin is becoming increasingly unanimous.

Aston Martin will be in Melbourne because they have to - but they aren't ready.

The best-case scenario is limiting the damage until improvements arrive.
— formularacers (@formularacers_) March 2, 2026

De la Rosa added a point of positivity at the end of his interview with F1, noting that Aston Martin is fully on board with Honda and that inroads will quickly be made to get the team where it wants to be.

"It’s on both sides that we started a bit late, but we will have a great future together... the communication with Honda has been very good so far... we have their full focus and we can work very closely with them.”
de la Rosa on AM-Honda relationship