Aston Martin warned of ‘really difficult year’ by former strategist despite ‘hype’

Former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins has warned her old team it is in for a “really difficult” season despite “hype” surrounding it.

The arrival of Adrian Newey in March coupled with Honda providing the team’s engines from 2026 has many optimistic Aston could be one of the top players this coming season, but, Collins has warned it is not that straightforward.

Aston Martin warned of ‘really difficult year’ ahead

After a promising start to 2023 that saw Fernando Alonso back on the podium, Aston sunk back down the order and finished the 2025 season in seventh.

But the regulation change offers fresh optimism for all 11 teams competing this year and it is Aston which is being talked about as a potential riser up the order.

Collins, who worked for Aston in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, though said it would be “really difficult” for all the moving parts to come together.

“I actually think, although there’s a lot of hype around the new project, the new factory, I think it’s going to be a really difficult year for them next year,” she told Sky Sports.

“I think to do any of the little things they’ve done, to change the engine, to change the gearbox, to change the chief designer, change the wind tunnel, have a new factory – any of those individual components would worry me for the performance of the team for the next year, because they’re big changes.

“To change all of them together, I think I’m not sure how phenomenal it’s going to go year one, even though we all know Adrian Newey, he’s a fantastic designer.”

More on Aston Martin from PlanetF1.com

*  Fernando Alonso jokes about ‘tougher contracts’ with F1’s new breed of team boss
* Fernando Alonso raises key question over Aston Martin dream team
* Adrian Newey recounts ‘utter disaster’ which taught valuable F1 lesson

One of the question marks some have over Aston is Lance Stroll, who despite being one of the most experienced members on the grid, and a driver who has delivered three podiums and a pole position, still faces accusations of nepotism given his father Lawrence owns the team.

But Collins, who worked with Lance Stroll during her time at Aston, suggests he is often underrated.

“Where does Lance fit in? Well, he probably has a seat there, doesn’t he? And I think that until he doesn’t want to continue, he will continue to be within that team, or till the team is sold, or we don’t know what’s going to happen with any of that.

“I worked with Lance for a long time across a variety of drivers. You know when you see people running the 400 meters and you sort of think ‘ah how fast are they going?’. But then when you see it in real life [it looks much quicker].

“I think that he’s a much, much better driver than some of us give him credit for, in many ways, because he is driving a Formula 1 car, and he’s not a million miles off. But where the direction the team goes, I don’t know, and I think there’s probably more political upset, I guess, to come if they decide they want to change that.”

Read next: Why F1 2026 changes everything in hard reset for Red Bull