Lance Stroll Reveals Aston Martin Have a Huge Deficit to Overcome

A strange and limited appearance at testing in Barcelona seems to have also affected Aston Martin's Bahrain testing period as well.

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team, AMR26 | Aston Martin

While Williams' testing absence was the main news coming out of Formula One in January, the Grove-based team was far from the only team having problems on the grid.

Cadillac have had to adjust to being F1's new boys in a short period, surely adding stress on their end, while Aston Martin have been on a slow decline that seems to be getting worse by the moment.

Their 2025 campaign ended with a seventh-placed finish in the Constructors' World Championship, a drop of two positions compared to 2024 and over 200 points less than what the team managed in 2023.

But if a recent revelation is to be believed, then 2026 could be an even more disappointing season for Aston Martin.

Lance Stroll admits Aston Martin 'need to try' to overcome huge pace gap

Despite its impressive look, Aston Martin want their 2026 car to be better. | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

In Day 2 of testing in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso was the only Aston Martin driver to get laps in, on what will be his only day of the test.

The veteran Spaniard came 14th out of the 15 drivers who completed laps on Day 2, 3.9 seconds off the pace compared to the day's fastest driver, Charles Leclerc.

Lance Stroll represented Aston Martin on the opening day of testing around Sakhir, finding himself in an even more precarious situation when compared to Alonso the day after, himself 5.2 seconds off of session leader Lando Norris in the McLaren.

Stroll was unafraid to explain the team's situation after his day of testing, a situation only amplified by the fact that legendary engineer Adrian Newey is Aston Martin's team principal.

Adrian Newey had a legendary tenure as Red Bull's chief engineer before joining Aston Martin. | Aston Martin F1 Team

"Right now we look like we’re four seconds off the top team... four and a half seconds... When you’re behind the competition, you have to think about ways to extract more from the package you have."

Stroll on his team's time deficit

The fact that such a potentially huge handicap has come in a season where both Aston Martin drivers are at a crossroads in their careers - with Alonso potentially to retire at the end of the season and Lance Stroll's F1 future somewhat in doubt - will do no good at establishing a healthy team environment.

Stroll did, however, reiterate the steps that Aston Martin needs to take if the car is to be competitive within the 2026 season, and that testing is not always the best metric to go by, as teams will still be figuring out how to optimize performance, as well as experimenting with their cars.

"It’s impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running [in testing]... I don’t think [performance] falls from the sky, you know. I think you have to improve and find performance in the car and the engine, I mean, these are just usual things in F1."

Stroll on where the team can improve

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