{"id":805832,"date":"2026-07-17T09:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805832\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T09:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:46:14","slug":"f1-news-aston-martin-braces-for-worst-weekend-yet-at-belgian-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805832\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Aston Martin braces for \u2018worst weekend\u2019 yet at Belgian Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Aston
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAston Martin are preparing for another tricky weekend in Belgium. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The team arrives in Belgium with only one point from the opening nine rounds and no upgrades to the AMR26 planned before a major package is introduced at next weekend\u2019s Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Lance Stroll predicted after Silverstone that Spa would be the least suitable circuit of the year for Aston Martin, a view now backed by chief trackside officer Mike Krack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Spa\u2019s going to be really difficult and probably the worst circuit of the year for us,\u201d Stroll said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be really difficult for us there, and, hopefully, Budapest is a big uplift in performance. We just have to be patient for the upgrades when they come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, it brings a lot of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krack agreed with Stroll\u2019s assessment, adding that the long Spa lap and its extensive flat-out sections are expected to further highlight the team\u2019s straight-line speed and energy-management deficit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYes, I think we know the sensitivities of this circuit for the various parameters of the car, and I think I have to agree with Lance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only the lap length that we will suffer from, but also the character. So I think we can expect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara also acknowledged the challenge of distributing electrical energy across the lap without leaving the Aston Martin vulnerable at the end of Spa\u2019s long straights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis circuit is quite tricky compared to Silverstone,\u201d Orihara said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long straights, and it\u2019s quite tricky in terms of MGU-K deployment distribution\u2026 So we have prepared some data, but we need to check what the best strategy is to cover the full long straights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aston Martin\u2019s only point of the season came through Fernando Alonso\u2019s 10th-place finish in Monaco<\/a>, while the team has fallen around one second behind newcomer Cadillac in qualifying across the previous two rounds.<\/p>\n

Its focus has increasingly shifted towards Hungary, where an extensively revised AMR26 is expected to feature changes to the nose, rear suspension and aerodynamic package, alongside efforts to reduce weight.<\/p>\n

However, Aston Martin is facing a race against time to produce enough components, with Krack adding that while he is confident both cars will receive the upgrades, he is less certain about the availability of spare parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody works flat out to get the parts, to get the cars ready. It\u2019s a big undertaking if you decide to do it like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always try to push the deadlines as far as you can. So it\u2019s a big effort going on at AMRTC at the moment. And I\u2019m a positive thinker.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think we will have two cars ready to go. I don\u2019t think we will have five spares of each, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krack warned the upgrade should not immediately be expected to propel Aston Martin into contention with the midfield after its difficult opening half of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to be careful with expectations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are quite far away from the front, but also from the midfield. So I think we have to put the car on the ground in Hungary.\u201d<\/p>\n

A further power unit update from Honda is expected at the Dutch Grand Prix following the summer break, forming the second stage of Aston Martin\u2019s development plan.<\/p>\n

Alonso will sit out opening practice at Spa, with third driver Jak Crawford taking over his car for his third FP1 appearance of the season.<\/p>\n

The American previously drove Alonso\u2019s car in Japan before replacing Stroll during opening practice in Austria, with his Belgium outing fulfilling Aston Martin\u2019s third mandatory rookie session of 2026.<\/p>\n

2026 F1 Belgian Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aston Martin are preparing for another tricky weekend in Belgium. Image: XPB Images The team arrives in Belgium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[2495,64,63,814,10310,39542,806,805,803,804,6490,85],"class_list":["post-805832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-aston-martin","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-belgian-gp","tag-lance-stroll","tag-mike-krack","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-slot3","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}