Aston Martin have faced great difficulties so far in 2026. They arrived to the Pre-Season test in Bahrain late, and broke down during the test as well. At the opening race of the season, it was widely speculated that the British team would treat the race as another testing session.

Stroll ended up finishing 15 laps down on George Russell, as Alonso was eventually forced to retire in Australia.

At the Chinese GP, the pair of them experienced significant vibrations, leading to Alonso taking his hands off the steering wheel down the back straight, going into the penultimate corner.

Alonso stated to DAZN, after the Chinese GP: "I retired because the engine vibrations were actually different today – or rather, excessive – and starting around lap 20 or so, I began to lose all feeling in my hands and feet. Continuing until the end of the race while losing feeling in my hands and feet didn’t make much sense.”

With one week off before the Japanese GP at the end of March, Aston Martin will surely be pushing for rapid development of the AMR26. However, when asked about Aston Martin's chances, Lance Stroll stated: "Unless they can find ⁠some magic in the next 10 days, pray. Pray for me”

Stroll continued: "It's not a great time for the team. Everyone's frustrated with where we are. It's not why we want to come racing, to fight for these positions. But, I think there's a lot of potential, that I have no doubts. We have a great facility, we have very talented people inside the team."

He added: "Adrian joined, and Honda - They've won four out of the last five world championships. Right now, it's not ideal, but we keep pushing forward and I have a lot of belief in the whole team and the whole operation."

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