Former Components 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa has praised Aston Martin for refusing to be “demotivated” throughout the start of its troublesome 2026 season.
The Silverstone-based squad went from midfield fighters to backmarker no-hopers throughout the winter, amid difficulties within the sport’s transition to its new, radical and electrified rulebook.
Its AMR26 machine was, per Staff Principal Adrian Newey’s admission, late in its growth in comparison with that of its rivals, accompanied by extra struggles from Honda, returning to F1 after a short hiatus.
The Japanese marque’s energy unit was not solely carrying a major efficiency deficit to others on the grid, but additionally inflicting important vibrations to the automobile, inflicting each drivers to desert it throughout races to keep away from nerve harm.
However neither aspect has refused to be overwhelmed by the burden of the problems piling on prime of them, and with upgrades on each automobile and engine, Aston has begun to point out enhancements, with a Q2 exhibiting in Hungary, and a factors end for Fernando Alonso in Holland.
Aston Martin ‘realises its true potential’
Talking in an unique interview with Motorsport Week, de la Rosa, who acts as an Aston Martin ambassador, defined how information of what enhancements could be made because the season progressed helped the crew’s personnel to maintain their collective head held excessive.
“I feel it’s credit score to everybody within the crew actually that they saved their head down, working onerous and having the religion and the arrogance that we’d flip it round,” he stated. “I feel that the folks that work on this crew realise our true potential.
“While you’re on the surface, you solely see outcomes. However contained in the crew, you see why you’re the place you’re and what’s coming, what the crew is engaged on. So I feel that the morale was nonetheless excessive isn’t the phrases, as a result of it was a troublesome second.
“However there was the robust confidence that we’d come again robust and that we had been doing the precise issues within the manufacturing facility. Understanding that you’ve a fantastic campus, that you’ve nice instruments, you have got nice expertise as properly, has made it simpler for all of us to stay united. And with full confidence that we’re doing the precise issues.
“For those who’re in a crew the place you don’t see the funding is sufficient or issues aren’t getting in the precise path, you begin feeling demotivated.
“However there was not one member of this crew that felt demotivated any time via the primary half of the season.”
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