Aston Martin completed only 128 laps in the final Bahrain winter test, comfortably behind newcomers Cadillac, and suffered with reliability and performance issues all throughout pre-season, including a battery issue that limited running to just six laps on the final day.

Engine suppliers Honda later said the test results were "extremely serious and severe," revealing that "vibrations" in the car were "causing problems with the battery," a key element of racing and regulations in F1 2026.

Previewing the 2026 season on Sky Sports' F1 Show, Brundle warned Aston Martin of a "snowball effect," having collected so little data compared to the top teams, which could already leave them in "dire trouble" ahead of the season-opener in Melbourne.

Brundle said: "It’s clear to me that the correlation between the wind tunnel, the CFD and the stopwatch on the racetrack looks like it’s miles out. The car didn’t exactly look stuck to the road when it was running.

"The big problem they have is that there are four teams charging round with the Mercedes power unit. Can you imagine, after nine days of testing, how much data Mercedes have?

"Ferrari have three teams. Audi have done well, but they’ve only got themselves. Honda have only got Aston Martin. If the Aston Martin isn’t going round the track, which it wasn’t by and large, they’ve got no data. It’s a snowball effect for them, and they’re in dire trouble at Aston Martin.

"I’m sure they’ve got the resource and the brainpower to do something about that, but it’s going to take time," he concluded.

Honda Managing Director, Ikuo Takeishi, addressed Aston Martin's problems in Bahrain at a recent press briefing, outlining the 'vibration' issues that the team discovered across pre-season.

While Takeishi said Honda's engineers are "making considerable efforts" to resolve the issues, the fact he spoke of a desire to "at least be in the running for the opening race" is certainly not where Aston wanted to be at the start of this new generation of F1.