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‘Taking the step up’ - how Aston Martin Aramco is preparing for F1’s 2026 shift
by Samarth Kanal
7min read
Formula 1’s transformative shift in 2026 has led some teams to reimagine themselves for the new campaign. Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team is one of those teams, and here’s how Aston Martin and its title partner Aramco are gearing up for the new chapter.
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The 2026 season represents more than a shift in rules. Not only are aerodynamics overhauled with moveable wings and new design parameters, but every team must adopt FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel next season.
Aston Martin Aramco is undergoing one of the biggest transformations on the grid, as its recently-built Silverstone headquarters and burgeoning technical leadership prove.
This is all in preparation for its metamorphosis into a fully-fledged constructor in 2026: Mercedes’ power units will make way for an exclusive partnership with Honda; Aston Martin will build its own gearbox in-house; Valvoline will be its exclusive lubricant supplier; and Aramco will supply the team with FIA-compliant 100% Advanced Sustainable Fuel that meets the FIA regulations.
Ahead of the 2025 United States Grand Prix at Austin, Aston Martin Aramco CEO and team principal Andy Cowell sat down with Aramco SVP of Technology Oversight and Coordination Ali A. Al-Meshari to outline their partnership’s objectives for 2026. The discussion took place at ‘The Road to Tomorrow: Drive for Innovation’ event presented by Axios and The Race.
View From the Top conversation with Aramco - watch on race
Why does the Aston Martin Aramco partnership matter?
As every F1 car is a sum of its parts, every F1 team relies on its partnerships to extract the best out of its facilities, staff, and drivers. It’s no different for Aston Martin Aramco.
“The partnerships are hugely important to us,” says Cowell.
“Next year, in 2026, there’s a new set of regulations and, as part of that, [FIA-compliant] Advanced Sustainable Fuel is being developed. We’re partnering with Honda to create a power unit, and Aramco are providing the fuel, and Valvoline is providing the lubricant.
“To bring the fastest race car together, it [means] pulling all of that together, all of those systems together in harmony.”
Aramco has proven experience in developing lower-carbon fuel. From 2025, Aramco supplied 100% FIA-compliant Sustainable Fuel to all 52 Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars in the FIA junior championships.
“I am really happy to be a part of this discussion with Andy because since 2022 we have worked to develop FIA [-compliant] 100% Sustainable Fuel,” says Al-Meshari.
“We have tested that in Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars this year, supplying the fuel for 52 cars. And we’ll be more than happy to be the exclusive supplier of this kind of fuel next year, in 2026.”
Why is Aramco’s work on 2026 fuel important?
The world’s energy demands are not only growing, but changing.
While Aramco is exploring the potential of alternative power units, the internal combustion engine will continue to play a pivotal role in global mobility.
Lower-carbon fuels are therefore an area of innovation that Aramco has invested in through its advanced research and development centres around the world.
The FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel that will be used by all 11 F1 teams in 2026 is a lower-carbon ‘drop-in’ solution that is compatible with existing infrastructure.
Wider adoption of lower-carbon fuel formulations compatible with existing infrastructure and engines could help reduce atmospheric carbon emissions worldwide.
L to R: Axios Publisher Nicholas Johnston, Aramco SVP of Technology Oversight and Coordination Ali A. Al-Meshari, and Aston Martin Aramco CEO and team principal Andy Cowell
“There will be no one solution for the transportation sector,” explains Al-Meshari. “We need to look at all solutions like electrical vehicles, hybrid cars, plug-in hybrids, and cars with internal combustion engines that can use sustainable fuel.
“And, when we look at cars with internal combustion engines, we have more than 1.4 billion cars around the world. This fuel that we have tested with Aston Martin, as I mentioned to Andy [Cowell] before this interview, anything that you can do at the test track can be applied anywhere else.
“And we are taking this [approach] not only for light-duty cars, but also for heavy-duty cars, for airplanes, for trains, and for marine applications.”
“The technologies that we are developing...it’s not [just] about fuel formulations.
“We are also looking at different kinds of engines that can be optimised. We are looking at the auxiliary system around the engine. We are looking at the after-treatment components. All of this is to be integrated with improved engine emission output with the right fuel formulation to help decarbonise transportation.”
The Aston Martin AMR25 F1 car. In 2026, Aston Martin Aramco will use FIA-compliant 100% Advanced Sustainable Fuel supplied by Aramco
How will Aston Martin Aramco transform in 2026?
Next season really is a shift change for Aston Martin Aramco.
Years of preparation and resources have led to this moment: a departure from the suppliers that put Aston Martin Aramco in contention for regular points and even some podiums. Now, the team wants to contend for more.
“Yes, it’s Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 team,” underlines Cowell, as he explains that it is “taking the step up from being a customer team to being a works team.
“That entails the close collaboration with the Aramco scientists on the development of the FIA-compliant Advanced Sustainable Fuel and with Honda on the power unit that’s combusting the fuel and turning it into useful work to push the race car along.
“So there’s this huge collaboration going on there as well as with the aerodynamicists working on quite a different regulation set for next year.”
Andy Cowell speaking at The Road to Tomorrow: Drive for Innovation event presented by Axios and The Race before the 2025 United States Grand Prix
What does the change in regulations mean for Aston Martin Aramco?
Getting the pieces together was just one part of the puzzle, but the regulations themselves form a labyrinthine list of rules.
For team principal Cowell, navigating these rules means optimising teamwork and working towards one common goal.
“In partnership between Aramco and Honda and Aston Martin, it’s the working relationship...It’s how we get the scientists sat around the same table looking at laptime as the key thing that we’re all focused on.
“So how do we all contribute to reducing laptimes in qualifying and the race?”
He points at one of the biggest changes in 2026: the power unit. Next season, the Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) will be removed and the Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic (MGU-K) will form the electrical component of the power unit, working alongside the internal combustion.
The Aston Martin AMR25 F1 car at the 2025 United States Grand Prix
Furthermore, the MGU-K will provide nearly three times the power, and therefore a much greater proportion of the power unit’s energy.
“And the drivers need to decide how to deploy that energy,” says Cowell.
“So having Fernando [Alonso], one of the most experienced drivers, together with Lance [Stroll], working with us this year and racing the car next year, having that continuity is a huge benefit to us.”
Alonso and Stroll share the same goals as the rest of the team at Aston Martin Aramco and its partners in Aramco, Honda and Valvoline: lower laptimes, points, podiums, and, ultimately, wins.
The next era of F1 will be a fascinating one with 11 teams vying for championship supremacy amid a completely new technical canvas. And FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel is the unseen factor that could help separate the good teams from the great.
