Montoya suggests Aston Martin may be holding back

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has been keeping a close eye on Aston Martin’s troubled start to pre-season testing, and the seven-time Grand Prix winner believes that the Silverstone-based outfit may be hiding more than it’s showing.

With Adrian Newey at the helm of both Aston’s design and leadership, Montoya thinks the AMR26’s apparent struggles could be deliberate – a calculated act of F1 sandbagging.

The team’s new-generation contender certainly turned a few heads when it first appeared during Barcelona’s shakedown week. Its unusual aerodynamic profile immediately set it apart from its rivals, hinting at a team that may have interpreted the new regulations in a very different way.

Yet on the first week of Bahrain testing, Aston’s own drivers were sending mixed messages. Lance Stroll admitted the car “needed four seconds of performance,” while Fernando Alonso tried to temper the alarm, insisting optimization was still in full swing, with a process that would likely “unlock seconds” of performance.

The Master of the Invisible Edge

Speaking to Vision4Sport, Montoya teased that the car’s strange appearance could be a clue about which teams have figured out the rules – or which are deliberately holding back.

“Apart from the Aston, you look at every car, they all look the same,” the Colombian said.

“So, it means either nobody figured it out or everybody’s sandbagging because they have figured something out.

“The aero packages are going to change a lot from now into Melbourne and knowing Adrian Newey, he is going to wait in Melbourne to run the package. Adrian is not going to run anything in the test.”

Montoya knows Newey personally from his stint at McLaren back in 2005, a season that coinciding with Newey’s last there before he joined Red Bull, and his experience gives him insight into the legendary designer’s mindset.

“Adrian Newey is a pessimist! So, it’s really hard to judge,” he said. “And I worked with Adrian. Adrian will say things are okay, but he’s never happy.

“When he built the Red Bull that won every race a couple of years ago, he didn’t think they had such a great car. And he won 90 per cent of the races.

“Reading Adrian is very difficult because Adrian is never happy and I think that’s one of the key reasons why Adrian is so good, because he’s never satisfied with what he has.”

Power and Reliability: Aston Martin’s True Test

Montoya also highlighted the challenges Aston Martin faces with Honda as a single-car customer. While power may not be the main concern, reliability could prove a bigger hurdle.

“I think there’s a bigger question; where Honda is being a single car team in terms of reliability. Honda has one car and Audi has one car,” he said.

“In three days, Audi did 600 kilometres, Mercedes did 5,000 km. Ferrari did 4,800 km. As long as Aston doesn’t have to turn the engine down, then they won’t have any issues.

“The two big question marks for me revolve around, not so much on power, but more on reliability.”

The takeaway? Aston Martin may not be the laggard it appears to be. With Newey’s cautious approach to testing and the car’s radical design, the team could be quietly storing up its firepower for Melbourne.

Montoya’s words offer a tantalising hint: don’t count Aston out just because the AMR26 hasn’t been screaming down the Bahrain straights – the real story may only start when the lights go out on the first race of 2026.

Read also:

Calm amid chaos: Alonso responds to Aston Martin’s troubles

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