Aston Martin issues notable update on participation in Barcelona test

The team missed the first three days of testing for unspecified reasons, but stated on Monday that the plan was to conduct their first runs with the new AMR26 on Thursday and Friday.

GPblog understands that plans have not changed, with Sky Sports F1 reporting on Wednesday that the new car still needed to be assembled overnight at the track in Spain.

The broadcaster estimated that it was more likely that Aston Martin would begin testing on Friday, rather than Thursday. However, GPblog understands that this report was dismissed as speculation.

In any case, Aston Martin have missed a chunk of running and like Williams are expected to make up for lost track time at the second test in Bahrain next month.

Aston have not yet provided any update on which drivers would be testing in Barcelona. It comes as Adrian Newey's era as team principal comes with a slow start. However, some have tipped the team to be dark horses this season as they switch to Honda power for the first time.

Meanwhile, Williams boss James Vowles is confident his team will not be hampered after missing the test in Spain as he looks to build the strongest-performing car that can help the team break back into contention for race wins.

Vowles said: "There's no point being just underneath the curve if you want to transform at speed, you need to find the pain points and put them right very quickly, which is exactly what we're doing.

"I'm confident in our decision to miss Barcelona and I'm confident it was the right one to prepare for the first test in Bahrain and Melbourne."