Fernando Alonso said the performance of his Aston Martin was “much better” as the team debuted a huge upgrade package during Hungarian Grand Prix practice on Friday.
Aston Martin had approached F1’s latest generation of rules.
which kicked in at the start of this season, as a major opportunity to break into the sport’s established ‘big four’ teams and challenge for titles.
Instead, they have endured a woeful campaign, with a massively underperforming Honda engine and a chassis, the design of which was led by team boss Adrian Newey, failing to meet expected standards.
While other teams have brought several upgrade packages throughout the year, Aston Martin has waited until the 11th round in Budapest to bring one mega-package of 16 new parts.
It was a mixed day for the team as the left-rear suspension on Lance Stroll’s car failed during first practice and ruled him out of the second session.
But Alonso was left reasonably satisfied after managing a relatively normal day of running.
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“A more predictable and easier car, but still a long way to go for us. Obviously, this is only the first step.”
The chassis upgrade comes a round ahead of Honda’s expected delivery of a major engine upgrade at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.
Alonso continued: “We need to find more performance both on the chassis not but also on the engine. Zandvoort will be a good test for us with the new engine. Step by step, but definitely in the direction.
“It looks better, for sure, and it’s more or less what we expected. This is the most encouraging thing, that what we thought the new package would do the car actually translated into reality on track.
“That kind of correlation is what we need also for next year’s project, so I think there is a positive atmosphere in the team now.”
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Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll avoids barrier after failure leaves him stranded on track, triggering red flag in P1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix
While Alonso’s position of 19th on the timesheet in second practice appeared underwhelming as he finished between the two cars of 2026 newcomers Cadillac,
He lost a significantly faster lap due to a breach of track limits.
Alonso felt hopeful about finding more pace on Saturday, despite traffic and an unhelpful red-flag interruption caused by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashing out of the session.
“I think it was tricky to maximise the lap with the red flag and some of the traffic,” Alonso said.
“So, maybe there is a little bit more to come from our side, but maybe it’s the same for everybody, so let’s see tomorrow.
[We] concentrated on testing the new parts and trying to understand the setup direction, which may be very different from what we’ve run at the last few events.
So I think there is more potential to unlock, hopefully tonight and into tomorrow’s qualifying.
Newey: Immediate goal is respectability
Newey admitted that his short-term target is for the team to achieve “respectability” after arriving at Aston Martin from Red Bull in March 2025 as the most decorated designer in the sport’s history.
Speaking in a press conference between Friday’s two sessions, Newey said: “The first races have been a complete nightmare.
“Hopefully, we can get at least a point and respectability now. I think that is the immediate goal. From there, we can look to build on that.
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Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey is optimistic their recent upgrades will boost the performance of the cars
Newey was speaking before Stroll had been ruled out of second practice as a result of the team being unable to repair the Canadian’s car in time for the session.
He did well to avoid the barriers when the left rear of his car suddenly broke and caused him to spin in the latter stages of the opening session.
Newey admitted that the team were initially unsure of what had caused the problem.
He said at the time: “As you can imagine, everybody is feverishly trying to understand exactly what went wrong and what happened as we speak.
“It’s only once we have an understanding that we can comment on what we do next.”
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Highlights from Friday’s practice sessions at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Newey revealed that the part that broke on Stroll’s car was not new, but surrounding new parts complicated the issue.
“The area involved was actually not changed,” Newey added.
We are short on spares because the cladding and so on are different, so there are some minor changes in that area. In that sense, it’s very unexpected.”
Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule
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The first lap of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix saw several drivers crash into one another
Saturday July 25
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: HUNGARIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday, July 26, 7.35am:
F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Hungarian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*
