The last on the grid
The two teams at the back of the Formula 1 grid in this very early part of the 2026 season have been Cadillac and Aston Martin. While for the US team – on their absolute debut in the Circus – the suffering and difficulties were widely expected, the big surprise is represented by the total failure of the AMR26 and the Aston Martin-Honda project. A flop of sensational proportions that has left Cadillac’s own standard-bearer Sergio Perez stunned.
The Mexican, an old fox of the Circus, knows many of the elements that make up the Aston Martin environment well: he worked for a long time in the Silverstone team when it was called Force India first and Racing Point later, and in his experience at Red Bull he collaborated with Honda and with the designer Adrian Newey, hired by Aston Martin for a fortune and promoted at the end of last year to the role of team principal. Evidently, however, something went wrong.
Checo amazed
“The truth is that I didn’t expect it. I hoped that Fernando (Alonso) would be in the fight for the top positions. I believed a lot in the project with Newey – the Mexican veteran admitted to DAZN microphones during an interview – I worked with Adrian at Red Bull and also with Honda. But anyway, these are the surprises that this category holds for you and so at this moment we find ourselves fighting with Fernando“.
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Perez then also joked about his and Alonso’s situation (the two are linked by a good friendship), admitting that he asked the former McLaren, Ferrari, and Renault star to ‘wait for him’ in the improvements: “I always tell Fernando, jokingly, not to improve too quickly, so we can have fun together and start the recovery together“. The #14, however, is unlikely to want to wait for his friend-rival, with whom he has been the protagonist of memorable battles in the past, such as the one in the 2023 São Paulo GP.
