The Hungarian Grand Prix was a huge weekend for Aston Martin, with so much expectation around the revised chassis package.<\/p>\n
To the relief of Adrian Newey<\/a> and all concerned there was clear progress. Having been last by some margin just a week earlier at Spa, Aston Martin<\/a> jumped both Cadillac<\/a> and Williams<\/a> cars in Qualifying, and added Haas<\/a> to the list in the race \u2013 as well as one Alpine<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was an impressive achievement given the misery of the past six months. Attention now turns not just to the revised power unit which Honda is testing this week and bringing to Zandvoort<\/a>, but also to the next round of aero upgrades, as Hungary<\/a> was just the start.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we came here and we said the main objective is to go back racing,\u201d said Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack after the flag. \u201cI think we achieved that. The upgrade package works, and now we need to bring the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n What the team could not have anticipated was where the revised AMR26 fell in the midfield pecking order, and jumping three teams in one hit was a welcome validation of the numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expectation was a lap time improvement or a percentage improvement,\u201d said Krack. \u201cAnd you never know what the competition brings, so you cannot say, \u2018I will be in front of this one, or I will be behind this one.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo in these situations you have to be factual, and stick with the numbers. And then comes the competitivity that is obviously influenced by a lot of things.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you remember on Thursday, I said, \u2018Where will [we] end up? We don’t know.\u2019 The midfield is so close that you cannot really say before.\u201d<\/p>\n Hungary was far from a perfect weekend, however. Lance Stroll<\/a> suffered a worrying suspension failure early in FP1 and lost the rest of the day, which meant that only Fernando Alonso<\/a>\u2019s car was able to log mileage.<\/p>\n The potential was seen in Qualifying, when Alonso made it into Q2 and earned P16 \u2013 a landmark for the team in 2026. Stroll was still playing catch-up, and caught out by a gust of wind he qualified in P20.<\/p>\n The two drivers followed very different strategies in the race. Both started on softs, as has often been the case in 2026. However, while Stroll pitted after just eight laps in an attempt to get some clean air, Alonso ran a marathon 34 laps on that first set.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we must not forget also the tyre side,\u201d said Krack. \u201cOnce again, we have taken alternative tyre choices, and I think they were very good. But this is part of the whole game.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a car that can do it, you take maybe less conservative choices on tyres, and then the whole thing works better. So all in all, this always goes hand in hand with the energy, with the grip, with the tyres you fit, with the strategies you choose.\u201d<\/p>\n