According to Alonso, Adrian Newey "always teaches something" at Aston Martin

It was a highly anticipated moment, and it became a reality this Friday. Fernando Alonso aboard theAston Martin The AMR26, developed by Adrian Newey, saw the Spanish driver complete over 60 laps of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, roughly the same distance as the Spanish Grand Prix race. It was an important day for the British team, which was only able to complete a few laps late Thursday, as the AMR26 had only arrived at the circuit on Wednesday, two days before the end of the Shakedown.

While Lance stroll had the honor of being the first to debut the new carFernando Alonso completed a full day of racing on Friday. A productive day, according to the two-time world champion: "The shakedown went well and it's always exciting to be back in the car after a winter of waiting."he explained to the website of the F1. "This is our first day. I know other teams were able to do filming days at the beginning of January and then the whole week in Barcelona, ​​but for us it was really the first day. It was positive; we did more than 60 laps and the car is responding well."

The Spaniard was keen to pay tribute to all the members of the Silverstone team, who worked tirelessly under very tight deadlines to produce the new car, compliant with the 2026 regulations. With the final Grand Prix of 2025 in early December and testing at the end of January, the off-season has already been longer in the history of the sport…

“It was very special to walk out of the garage on Thursday with Lance, and on Friday with me behind the wheel. This is the first car designed by Adrian Newey with Honda, a new set of regulations… The last two weeks have been very intense at the factory to get the car ready, and we just barely made it to Barcelona. Everyone put in a lot of work for this, and the last 48 hours have been phenomenal. I can’t wait to go to Bahrain now.”

Now Team Principal, in addition to being technical director, Adrian Newey seems to have an effect on his team, according to Alonso: “Everyone is extremely motivated when they see Adrian in the garage; he inspects every detail. I see the mechanics’ faces; everyone is looking at him, trying to get a comment, an opinion, something about the car he’d like to improve. He’s always teaching us something.”

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