‘We have a lot of work to do’ – Stroll claims Aston Martin are ‘four-and-a-half seconds’ off top teams with 2026 car

Lance Stroll has offered a frank assessment of where he feels Aston Martin stand after the first few days of running with their new Honda-powered challenger, suggesting the team are “four-and-a-half seconds” off the pace.

Aston Martin debuted their Adrian Newey-penned AMR26 in the closing stages of the recent Barcelona Shakedown, having worked to a tight schedule following the legendary designer’s arrival last March, and a new wind tunnel being switched on a month later.

Newey’s striking creation attracted plenty of compliments and intrigue after its on-track debut, which continued into this week’s first official pre-season test in Bahrain, but the noises coming out of the Aston Martin camp after further running have cooled expectations.

Speaking at the end of their second day at the Sakhir venue, Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack admitted that “while it is only testing, we know we are missing pace and we have areas we know we need to improve”.

And, when asked to sum up their test so far, Stroll said: “We’re still learning the car, the engine, but we have a lot of work to do, and catching up to do. We have probably 400 less laps than the competition, [from] Barcelona and everything that we missed.

“We just have to keep pushing. It is what it is. I mean, we just focus on where we are and what we can improve on going forward, and that’s all we can do.

“Time will tell how much performance we can extract from it. We have the issues that we have, we’re trying to improve it every run, every day, and we’ll see how much more we can extract from the car.”

Asked further about what’s lacking from Aston Martin’s car and Honda’s power unit, Stroll explained that “it’s a combination of things: engine, balance, grip”, before opening up further.

“We have all the tools to fight for race wins and championships,” he made clear. “If we’re not doing that at the moment, then we have to think of what we can do better.

“Right now, we look like we’re four seconds off the top teams, four-and-a-half seconds. Again, it's impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running. Now we need to try and find four seconds of performance, so we’ll see.”

Pushed on where that kind of lap time might come from, the Canadian added: “I don’t think it falls from the sky. You have to improve and find performance in the car and the engine. These are just usual things in F1.

“When you’re behind the competition, you have to think about ways to extract more from the package you have, and at the same time also improve. No one stands still in this business. Everyone’s trying to find performance in every way, every weekend, all the time. We’re doing that.

“We’re trying to extract more performance every day from the car. I think also longer term, bringing upgrades on the PU [power unit] side, on the chassis side. We will see in Australia where we line up, and then we will see throughout the season how we progress.”

Stroll’s team mate, two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, also shared his thoughts on the situation when he spoke to the world’s media midway through Friday’s programme.

“We need to unlock more performance,” he said. “Missing [most of] Barcelona was not ideal. This is the very first test for us, so we’re still going step-by-step into the car. We are a little bit on the back foot, we have to admit that, but hopefully there is time to improve.

“On the chassis there is no doubt, we have the best with us. After 30-plus years of Adrian Newey dominating the sport, I think no one will doubt that we will find a way to have the best car eventually.

“On the power unit, we need to wait and see when we unlock all the performance, where we are and what is missing, and then work hard.”