Why this week could make or break Aston Martin’s F1 future

Adrian Newey has three days of testing to iron out the team’s problems ahead of the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne - or risk the humiliation of being at the back of the grid - despite the significant sums spent by the team’s owner Lawrence Stroll.

“The bottom line is we are slow. We are not where we want to be.” - When a senior and experienced figure like Pedro de la Rosa, the Aston Martin F1 team representative, delivers that kind of blunt verdict weeks before the season-opening, alarm bells should be ringing. It is not sandbagging but a team staring at the uncomfortable gap between ambition and reality after Lance Stroll admitted they were four seconds off the pace.

Owner Lawrence Stroll has poured hundreds of millions into a state-of-the-art factory and wind tunnel. The team has secured a works power unit deal with Honda. They have lured design genius Newey, a man synonymous with championships at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. They have a double world champion in Fernando Alonso and a driver desperate to prove himself in Stroll. On paper, this is a title-winning cocktail but on track yet in reality it looks like a really bad hangover.

Newey has made some excuses. Saying the wind tunnel took time to come on line and that his arrival from Red Bull came later than he would have hoped. The team is also building its own gearbox and suspension for the first time rather than relying on Mercedes. Honda is effectively rebooting its F1 operation and supplying the new engine - and there are of course the new wave of regulations.

But that is not an excuse, for these regulations have been in the pipeline for some time, and there have been no such negativity from new boys Audi or Cadillac, or some of the smaller teams on the grid.

It means that the next three days matter more than any glossy factory opening or high-profile signing. Testing is the first moment when theory meets asphalt and - until now - Aston have been shown up.

Of course, the next three days will not decide the championship. They may not even transform the first race in Melbourne. But they will determine whether Stroll’s grand vision is on schedule — or whether it is already slipping.