Aston Martin's first Formula 1 car designed under Adrian Newey's leadership looks "pretty spectacular" and the most "standout" 2026 car visually, reckons Mercedes driver George Russell.
The AMR26 appeared late on the penultimate day of last week's Barcelona test as Aston Martin managed to get the car out for a shakedown before a reasonably productive full day on Friday.
It recorded comfortably the lowest mileage of the teams at the test - Williams was the only team absent entirely - and did not set representative laptimes, with the car running at reduced speeds on the straights on occasion.
What the Aston Martin did achieve immediately, though, was drawing attention to various parts that were clearly not in keeping with what seems to be conventional among teams' early 2026 designs.
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Front and rear suspension geometry decisions as well as bodywork shapes and aerodynamic choices around the nose, sidepods and engine cover all made the AMR26 distinctive in its initial form.
"What Adrian has done with that car, it looks pretty spectacular," said Russell in an answer about not discounting several teams this early in pre-season.
"And Honda over the past few years with Red Bull have had a very good engine beneath them. We also know what they're capable of."
Aston Martin and Honda have formed a new works partnership for 2026.
On Honda's side its F1 work is not a straight continuation from the championship-winning Red Bull years due to the time lost and personnel shifts following Honda's 18-month period where it did not intend to make a 2026 engine.
That has contributed to concerns it may be behind other engine manufacturers.
But the Aston Martin side is not a sure thing either as the team has previously been unconvincing with its development work prior to Newey's arrival and the AMR26 is understood to have started life quite heavy.
Russell added in another answer: "The Aston Martin was probably the most standout in terms of the car design.
"Everybody was looking at that rear suspension and it obviously visually looks very impressive, but it's not a competition of how sexy it is. It's a competition of how fast it goes around the track.
"So people always look towards the fastest car and we'll find that out in Melbourne. Whoever that is, that will be the car that you wish to try and take inspiration from."
Mercedes is the early favourite for 2026 after rumours last year it was in the best place in terms of engine preparation and a strong week in Spain where its car ran extremely well.
Russell said it would be "awesome to see a big fight", though, and has been consistently praising what rivals have done since the test started last week.
"We're sort of ticking the boxes of everything that we want to tick but we can't discount our rivals," he said.
"There was a lot of talk around the Red Bull power unit not being up to standard [in] year one. [But] from what we've seen so far, they've definitely delivered.
"[The] Ferrari power unit looks reliable, they did lots of laps - not far behind us over the course of the test and from a power unit side, Haas did loads of laps as well with the Ferrari engines.
"So the truth is that there could be a good fight on our hands, but we're satisfied with what we've experienced so far."
