‘Teaching us always something’ – Alonso opens up on first day in a Newey-designed car

23 years into his Formula 1 career, Fernando Alonso covered his first laps in an Adrian Newey-designed F1 car at the Barcelona circuit on Friday as he continued to shakedown the new Aston Martin AMR26.

And the Spaniard was impressed with the learnings that everyone at Aston Martin is gaining from the design guru.

Fernando Alonso: He’s teaching us always something

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Having confirmed that it would be late to the pre-season shakedown, Aston Martin’s inaugural Honda-powered car finally broke covers during the final hour of Thursday’s running at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The AMR26 covered just five laps with Lance Stroll behind the wheel before track marshals reportedly told the team to stop running having noted an electrical issue by way of the AMR26’s lights.

That brought out the red flag with a premature end to Aston Martin’s track running for the day.

Alonso replaced Stroll on Friday, putting in the laps on the final day of the Barcelona shakedown, where he completed 49 laps and set a fastest lap time of 1:20.795.

The double World Champion applauded his team’s efforts just getting to the track for the shakedown, a feat not everyone managed with Williams announcing it would not run in a group test until the first Bahrain outing.

“Obviously, the first car made by Adrian together with Honda and Aramco, and all these new rules,” he said as per F1TV.

“Especially the last two weeks has been very, very intense – the factory trying to have the car ready – and we just made it to Barcelona in the last two days.

“So I mean, tremendous effort from everyone. I think it was phenomenal the last 48 hours. And thanks to everyone in the team here at the factory, and, yeah, looking forward to Bahrain now.”

More on Fernando Alonso’s first run in the AMR26

Key Adrian Newey design decision emerges as Aston Martin AMR26 hits track

Adrian Newey masterclass revealed as Aston Martin AMR26 dissected

Friday’s running was Alonso’s first experience in a Newey-designed car as the double World Champion finally teamed up with the design legend after several near misses in his previous two decades on the grid.

Alonso revealed that working with Newey is a learning experience as the Briton, with his notepad in hand, is “always” teaching the team something new.

“I think everyone is super motivated when we see him in the garage, taking care of all the details,” he said.

“I see all the mechanics, the faces, everyone is looking at him, you know, trying to spot something that maybe he comment about the car or he wants to improve.

“So, yeah, as always he’s teaching us always something.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Winners and losers from the Barcelona testing shakedown