A very harsh message from the Canadian against his car during the last qualifying of the Chinese Grand Prix affects the serious problems of the AMR26

he first week of Formula 1's break between the two opening rounds of the 2026 season and the next Japanese Grand Prix has been experienced from a double perspective at Aston Martin. One is the work between Silverstone and Sakura with the focus of solving the serious problems of the AMR26. Another was the possible change in the team's leadership, with the figure of Jonathan Wheatley hovering after his departure from Audi F1. There is a need for changes and to straighten out a project that has only finished the Shanghai sprint.

The AMR26 has not been born well and from the pilots there are also different ways of dealing with the situation. Fernando Alonso, for example, chose to ask Honda for improvements in that power unit. "Ask the team about the changes. My plans are clear until Japan: to return home, rest, train hard and prepare for the race correctly. Hopefully Honda will do their homework and we can see some progress for the race," he said. For his part, Lance Stroll decides to be more direct. So much so that it is scary...

"Stroll's controversial radio

It's the biggest s* I've ever driven in my f***ing life"

Lance Stroll

It is not only in front of the media. Also on the radio he shows his anger with the AMR26. Specifically, an unpublished communication was revealed during the weekend in China that revealed how difficult the green car is. It's not very long, but it's direct." It's the biggest s**** I've ever driven in my f*** life," he blurted out in qualifying. In none of those sessions did he leave the lower zone, to a world of Alonso who was fighting for an unreal Q2 with the penultimate car on the grid.

It is not the first controversial phrase of the course. Already in the preseason he made it clear that "the only good thing is the decoration", and he has been very the car... of his father's team. "Pray with me," he said about whether there are improvements. Although it also has a somewhat quieter version. "I don't doubt that we have a lot of potential. There is a great facility, a team full of talent, Honda won four of the last five years..."; he explained.

And he clings to that belief in his possibilities. "It's not ideal, but we're still working. I believe a lot in the team. We are not where we want to be, because it is not the place we want to fight or the way we want to run," he closed in the last corralito. In Japan he will have another test with Aston Martin so that the situation begins to change. (MARCA, 2026-03-24)