Fernando Alonso expressed satisfaction with the noticeable improvement of his Aston Martin after the team introduced a substantial upgrade package during Friday's practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The British driver described the car as feeling "much better," noting that it seemed more planted to the tarmac and offered a more predictable handling balance, especially when navigating the circuit's corners. Aston Martin entered the current season with high expectations, viewing the brand-new set of technical regulations—implemented at the start of the year—as a chance to close the gap with Formula One's traditional "big four" and contend for race victories and championships. However, the campaign has been far from smooth.
The partnership with Honda has struggled, delivering an engine that has lagged behind rivals in both power and reliability, while the chassis, overseen by legendary designer Adrian Newey, has failed to meet the performance benchmarks the team had hoped for. Throughout the year, most teams have rolled out multiple aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades to refine their cars.
Aston Martin, by contrast, held back until the eleventh round in Budapest, unveiling a comprehensive package that introduced sixteen new components. The timing meant that the team hoped the changes would finally translate into on‑track speed.
The practice day was a mixed bag. Lance Stroll suffered a left‑rear suspension failure during the opening session, which forced him to miss the second practice period. Despite this setback for the team, Alonso managed a relatively smooth run and emerged from the day with a cautiously positive outlook.
"It was much better," Alonso said after completing his laps. "The car felt more glued to the ground and easier to drive, to an extent, when you are in control of the grip in the corners.
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 arrives just before Honda is scheduled to deliver a significant power‑unit update at the Dutch Grand Prix, following the summer break.
Alonso emphasized the need for improvements on both fronts: "We need to find more performance not only on the chassis 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." He added that the package appears to be delivering the benefits the team anticipated. "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." Alonso's qualifying position in the second practice session—nineteenth on the timesheet—was modest, especially as he was sandwiched between the two 2026 newcomers from Cadillac. A faster lap was lost due to a track‑limits infringement, and additional time was wasted because of traffic and a red‑flag interruption caused by Alpine's Franco Colapinto crashing. Nevertheless, Alonso remained hopeful that the car could extract more pace on Saturday.
"I think it was tricky with the red flag and some of the traffic to maximise the lap," he explained. "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 maybe can be very different to what we've run at the last few events, so I think there is more potential to unlock hopefully tonight and into tomorrow's qualy." Newey, who joined Aston Martin from Red Bull in March 2025 as the most decorated designer in the sport's history, outlined a realistic short‑term objective for the team: achieving "respectability" in the points.
Speaking at a press conference between the two practice sessions, he admitted that the opening races had been "a complete nightmare" but stressed the importance of securing at least a point to signal progress. "Hopefully, we can get at least a point and respectability now. I think that is the immediate goal.
From there, we can try to keep moving forward," Newey said. Stroll's suspension failure highlighted the challenges of integrating a large number of new parts simultaneously. The left‑rear component that broke was not itself a brand‑new piece, but it was surrounded by freshly introduced elements, complicating the diagnosis.
Newey explained that the area had not been altered directly, yet the surrounding changes meant the team lacked spare parts for the specific configuration, making the failure unexpected. "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," Newey remarked. Looking ahead, the Hungarian Grand Prix schedule includes practice, qualifying, and the race itself, all broadcast live on Sky Sports F1.
Fans can also stream the coverage via NOW without a long‑term contract. While the team still has a long way to travel before it can challenge the front‑runners, the combination of a more refined chassis and an upcoming engine upgrade gives Aston Martin a clearer path toward the respectability Newey envisions and perhaps, eventually, the podium finishes they originally set out to achieve.