Sky Sports commentator Karun Chandhok has launched a scathing attack on the crisis engulfing Aston Martin in Formula 1 in 2026, labelling the Silverstone team as “embarrassing”.
Aston Martin’s struggles this year are well-documented, with the AMR26 and Honda proving a highly uncompetitive partnership in the early stages.
The car is plagued by unreliability and extreme vibrations, and has only one classified finish in the opening three rounds, including a Sprint race.
What then followed was the speculation surrounding Team Principal Adrian Newey’s future in the role.
Rumours grew that Jonathan Wheatley, who abruptly quit as Team Principal of Audi in the opening races, looked to fill the void, but Chandhok questions why he quit given he has not been confirmed at Aston Martin.
“It sounds like there’s a bit of limbo,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 show podcast.
“There are certainly some rumours around Aston Martin, between China and Japan. It just seemed like an obvious thing because Adrian was filling that role as a somewhat interim position,”
“But clearly it’s not a done deal. If it was, it would have been announced. I think there’s still a lot of movement going on in where Jonathan lands. What I’m fairly confident is that we haven’t seen the last of Jonathan Wheatley in the paddock.
“He’s an absolute paddock lifer. He’s been there since the early ’90s. He’s not done with Formula 1. So, it won’t be long before he reemerges, but I think the challenge is, will he now reemerge and find a position of seniority that he thinks is deserving of his recent past because he’s now been Team Principal.
Aston Martin with work to do
Chandhok then delivered his blunt assessment of the situation at Aston Martin, believing the situation goes beyond simply replacing Newey.
“It’s quite hard to take a step down from that, isn’t it? You’ve been in the top job, and there are only 11 of them on the grid. How does that work? Honestly though, Aston, they’ve got bigger problems than the team principal.
“They’ve been… Disappointing is not the word, is it? It’s just been embarrassing how far off the pace that whole package has been due to the issues from the Honda side, of course.
“I think the Team Principal is the least of the issues. They need somebody to resolve the technical issue, and I don’t think Jonathan’s necessarily the person for that. They need engine people sitting in Sakura to try and dig them out of this hole.”
Chandhok’s blunt verdict on Aston Martin continues to generate negative headlines for a partnership in crisis after just three races. Pinning the blame on Honda, he, like the rest of the paddock, will look to see if any progress, even if minor, is made in Miami.
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