Formula One came to the Hungaroring for the eleventh round of the 2026 World Championship and the final race before the mandatory summer shutdown. Situated in rolling hills just outside Budapest, the 4.381km circuit has hosted every Hungarian Grand Prix since 1986 and is often referred to as "Monaco without the barriers". Its tight, twisting layout features just one significant straight and a relentless sequence of slow and medium-speed corners, including 4 hairpins, which place a premium on aerodynamic grip, mechanical balance and tyre management rather than outright engine power. Overtaking has historically proved difficult, making qualifying and race strategy particularly important, while the circuit's abrasive surface and typically high summer temperatures frequently place heavy demands on the tyres over the 70-lap race distance.
For Aston Martin this was far more than another race weekend. Following 10 difficult Grands Prix in which the AMR26 had failed to progress beyond the opening phase of Qualifying and scored just a single championship point, the Silverstone-based team finally introduced the comprehensive upgrade package it had been developing since the opening rounds of the season. The team, led by Team Principal, Adrian Newey, had taken the difficult decision to sacrifice performance throughout the first half of the campaign while his engineers concentrated on delivering one substantial step forward. The revised AMR26 featured a lighter chassis and gearbox, a re-homologated front chassis, revised rear suspension, a new nose assembly and extensively reworked aerodynamic surfaces – 16 revisions in total, bringing the car much closer to Formula One's minimum weight limit. Aston Martin believed the changes introduced would finally allow Alonso and Stroll to compete with the midfield at least, rather than battling each other at the back of the grid. Even so, both Adrian Newey and Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer, were careful to temper expectations, emphasising that the team's primary objective was not immediate results but showing that the AMR26 was moving in the right direction. Alonso echoed that confidence ahead of the weekend, insisting he had "zero doubt" that Newey would ultimately produce the best car on the grid, even if the transformation would take time. After months spent waiting for this moment, all eyes in the Paddock were firmly fixed on whether Aston Martin's long-awaited B-spec package could turn their season around.
Free Practice
The 40th Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix got underway with the opening Free Practice session involving 5 rookie drivers, as the teams fulfilled their mandatory Young Driver Programme commitments. For Aston Martin, the session had considerably greater significance - it provided the first opportunity to discover whether the extensive upgrade package brought to Budapest would address the AMR26's performance deficiencies encountered to date. There had been a huge effort behind the scenes simply to get the two revised cars to the circuit. Following an intensive development and manufacturing programme at the AMR Technology Campus, the new components had been delivered to Budapest, leaving the trackside team working hard to assemble both cars and have them ready for Friday's opening session.
Alonso and Stroll headed out of their garages on the hard compound tyres as Aston Martin began the process of gathering data and correlating the performance of the revised car against the team's simulations. The early indications provided some encouragement. After 15 minutes Alonso and Stroll occupied P9 and P11 respectively, despite being on the slower hard tyres while most of the cars around them were already running on mediums and after all the cars had set initial times. Were we seeing a renaissance? Not quite yet - as the session progressed, some of the remainder of the field improved as they got to grips with the destabilising gusty conditions. At the halfway point Alonso and Stroll were P16 and P17, both still on the hard compound tyres - the team's priority was to understand the new package rather than chasing headline lap times. However, with just over 20 minutes remaining that programme suffered a significant interruption. After completing 11 laps, Stroll suffered a sudden failure of the left-rear suspension as he exited turn 3 - the failure pitching the AMR26 into a spin before the car came to a halt at the side of the track. Race Control immediately engaged red flags while marshals recovered the Aston Martin. The incident caused concern in the Aston Martin garage given the extent of the changes made to the AMR26. Once the session resumed Alonso initially completed several more laps on the hard tyres while the team sought to establish whether Stroll's failure had been caused by excessive temperatures in the rear of the car. Heat-sensitive measuring strips were fitted around the rear of Alonso's car so engineers could monitor temperatures and ensure there was no indication of a similar problem developing in the Spaniard’s car. Satisfied that Alonso could continue, Aston Martin finally fitted a set of soft tyres for his closing run. However, after the disruption and additional monitoring work Alonso completed just one more representative lap before the chequered flag, finishing P13, having accumulated 20 laps of data during an otherwise clean and productive session. Despite his suspension failure, Stroll's earlier running was sufficient for him to be classified P21 rather than last. Stroll’s engineers now faced the task of understanding the cause of the failure and seeing if the car could be repaired before the cars returned to the circuit for Free Practice Two.
Despite extensive work by the Aston Martin mechanics between sessions, the damage could not be repaired in time and the team confirmed that Stroll would take no further part in Friday's running. Work continued on the rear of his AMR26, with the team also checking the opposite side of the car as well as Alonso’s, to ensure that there was no risk of a similar failure. With the extensive changes introduced in Hungary, the availability of replacement components was also limited, adding another complication as the mechanics worked to have the car ready for Saturday's final practice session. That left Alonso as Aston Martin's sole representative when FP2 began in increasingly breezy conditions. The Spaniard continued the crucial task of accumulating mileage with the revised AMR26 and, after the opening 15 minutes, placed himself in P14 as the team worked methodically through its setup programme. Conditions became increasingly difficult as the wind strengthened and, shortly before the halfway point, Colapinto was caught out and crashed into the barriers, bringing out the red flags and interrupting another valuable period of data gathering. Once the damaged car had been recovered, Alonso returned to the circuit and continued accumulating laps. Hamilton ultimately set the fastest time of the session, narrowly ahead of Ferrari teammate Leclerc, while Alonso finished P19, just under 3 seconds slower than the benchmark. Although the position itself represented little obvious improvement over recent races, Alonso was able to complete the remainder of the session without further problems, providing Aston Martin with much-needed mileage and valuable information after Stroll's earlier suspension failure. That information wasn’t just being studied at the circuit. Back at the AMR Technology Campus, Aston Martin's simulator continued running throughout the weekend in support of the trackside operation, evaluating setup alternatives and analysing the correlation between the team's simulations and the performance of the upgraded car on track, before both cars were expected to return for Final Practice on Saturday.
The mechanics worked extensively overnight to repair Stroll’s car in time for FP3, but there was little urgency to get him out immediately when the pit lane opened. He did head out after 10 minutes and immediately set about making up for lost time. However, his opening flying lap was 2.7 seconds slower than Colapinto's early benchmark, which was subsequently deleted for exceeding track limits. Nevertheless, after fifteen minutes Stroll had climbed to P3, 1.5 seconds behind Hülkenberg, although only four drivers had recorded times at that stage. As more cars began to emerge, Stroll returned to the garage for further adjustments to his rebuilt AMR26. The session was then red flagged when Bottas' Cadillac stopped just off track, while Alonso appeared to drive over debris that had been shed by another car shortly before the stoppage. Fortunately, there was no apparent damage to the Aston Martin and running resumed after only a short interruption. By the halfway point both Aston Martins had completed representative laps and Alonso occupied P14, 2.5 seconds behind Norris' P1 time, with Stroll in P17, 3/10ths further back from Alonso. Significantly, both Aston Martins were still running on the medium compound tyres while most of the cars around them had already switched to the faster softs, suggesting their positions did not necessarily reflect the underlying performance of the revised AMR26. That became more apparent when Alonso finally switched onto the soft compound for his qualifying simulation. With twelve minutes remaining the Spaniard jumped to P11, missing a place inside the top ten by just one-one thousandth of a second. Stroll, meanwhile, improved to P16 as he continued rebuilding his confidence and understanding of a car he’d barely driven this weekend. As faster laps were recorded in the closing minutes by other drivers, the Aston Martins slipped slightly down the order - Alonso finishing P17 and Stroll P18, 2.4 and 3 seconds respectively behind Norris, who headed Hamilton and Antonelli at the top of the timesheets. However, the final positions disguised a more encouraging session than the numbers alone suggested. Alonso had briefly demonstrated that the upgraded AMR26 could get and stay amongst the midfield, while Stroll had completed valuable running after missing out on FP2 altogether. After months in which Aston Martin repeatedly struggled to escape the final positions this session provided perhaps the first tangible indication that the substantial upgrade package would begin to deliver improved performance.
Qualifying
Saturday's all-important Qualifying session provided the first real opportunity to assess the upgraded AMR26 under competitive conditions. High track temperatures and the Hungaroring's relentless sequence of corners placed particular emphasis on tyre management and both Aston Martin drivers reported that the revised car offered noticeably improved levels of downforce, grip and predictability compared with previous race weekends. After months spent battling an unpredictable car at the rear of the field, the team finally approached Qualifying with genuine optimism. Stroll led the Aston Martin challenge out of the pit lane at the start of Q1, followed closely by Alonso, with both drivers running the soft compound tyres. As the pair were one of the first to record representative lap times, they briefly occupied the P1 & P2 slots before the remainder of the field completed their opening runs. Once the order had settled Alonso held P12 and Stroll P16, lapping just 1.9 and 2.4 seconds respectively slower than Norris' benchmark. More importantly, both drivers remained firmly in contention for a place in Q2 with 7 minutes of the session still remaining. Frustratingly, Stroll's challenge unravelled when a gust of tailwind unsettled the AMR26 as he approached turn 12, forcing the Canadian to abandon his final flying lap. Without an improved time he was eliminated in Q1 – finishing only in P20. Alonso, however, extracted enough from the upgraded car when it mattered most, improving sufficiently to secure P16 and progression to Q2. It marked Aston Martin's first appearance in the second round of Qualifying this season and represented the clearest indication yet that the upgrade package was delivering tangible gains.
Alonso headed out early in Q2 but his opening run was briefly complicated by yellow flags after Hadjar spun, forcing several drivers to abandon their laps. Once the first representative times had been recorded Alonso occupied P14, although Hadjar and Bortoleto hadn’t set competitive lap times yet, leaving the Aston Martin driver with work still to do. For his final attempt Alonso briefly placed himself in 10th position, raising hopes of a remarkable appearance in the final top ten round, before the remaining runners completed their laps. As the track continued to improve Alonso eventually slipped back to sixteenth, bringing his Qualifying to an end, but the disappointment was tempered by the clear progress shown throughout the afternoon. At the front, Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc initially occupied the leading positions before a dramatic conclusion to Q3. Verstappen spun during the closing moments, bringing out yellow flags that forced Antonelli to lift off during his final lap. Moments later Russell also spun, leaving Norris with a clear run to secure pole position ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc. Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix concluded on a positive note for the team, reaching Q2 for the first time in 2026, which represented an important milestone for the team and provided early validation that the long-awaited upgrades were moving the AMR26 in the right direction. The engineers spent Saturday evening analysing the extensive data gathered from both cars, supported by continued simulator work at the AMR Technology Campus, as they sought to unlock even more performance ahead of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Race
Sunday's 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix saw Stroll line up 20th on the grid, while Alonso took the start from P16, both on soft compound tyres. Before the race, Alonso spoke positively about the progress already made with the revised AMR26, also what had been achieved and that more should be expected in Zandvoort when Honda's upgraded power unit is installed and running. Additionally, there were announcements from the Stewards that Hamilton and Antonelli were to incur 3-place grid penalties - Hamilton for blocking Piastri in Qualifying, who was on a fast lap, which would drop Hamilton to 5th on the starting grid. And Championship leader Antonelli was also given the same penalty for not slowing sufficiently under single yellow flags, following the spin for Verstappen. The penalties meant Leclerc was elevated to start second, Piastri third, Verstappen fourth, Hamilton would now start fifth and Russell sixth, a place ahead of Antonelli. When the lights went out to start the race the Aston Martins avoided any incidents and gained a place each – both passing Russell who’d had a terrible start after his Mercedes went into anti-stall. At the front Norris led away cleanly, although Piastri immediately mounted a strong challenge and passed Norris for the lead after the second corner, while Verstappen also moved into contention behind them. A few laps in Alonso was briefly investigated for forcing another driver, Bearman, off track, but the Stewards decided that no further action was required. On lap 5 Stroll overtook Albon and moved up to 19th, while Alonso lost ground to Colapinto and was back in P16. Stroll became one of the first midfield runners to pit, stopping on lap 11 for medium tyres and rejoining at the rear of the field. Although the early stop temporarily dropped him to P22, it allowed him to make a bid to undercut the cars ahead and progress up the grid when they came in for their pit stops later. Alonso, meanwhile, went long on the soft tyres and steadily benefited as rivals peeled into the pits. Colapinto, Bearman, Ocon, Hülkenberg, Linblad and Lawson all stopped within the space of a few laps, lifting the Spaniard through the order, so that by lap 22 Alonso had climbed up to P10. The undercut for Stroll also paid off, as he moved in front of several cars and also benefited from Bottas having to retire his Cadillac. However, as Alonso's soft tyres began to lose performance during the closing stages of his first stint, he gradually slipped backwards as rivals on fresher rubber regained the advantage - first of all Lawson regained a place on lap 25 and then Linblad passed Alonso on lap 26. Conversely, Stroll, on his fresher tyres was making progress up the order and passed Colapinto on lap 24 and moved up another place, to P15 on lap 30, while Alonso, still on old soft tyres, dropped 2 more places and was now in P14. At the front, after the initial round of stops for tyres for the leaders, Piastri was back in the lead of the race, with Norris chasing him down relentlessly. Finally, just before the half-distance mark Alonso came into the pits for new medium tyres and he came out 19th – Stroll moved up to P14. On fresher rubber than those drivers in front of him, Alonso was also able to move up the field promptly after his stop and by lap 37 he was up to P17. Noticeably, both Aston Martins were now overtaking rivals on merit & pace rather than simply inheriting positions through retirements or pit stops. On lap 38 Stroll came in for a 2nd pit stop and switched back to taking on soft tyres for the remainder of the race. Meanwhile, there were changes going on at the front as the race entered its second half. Piastri had pitted for another set of hard tyres on lap 33, giving Norris some clear air – and a potential chance to build a tyre offset for the final stint. Norris, Verstappen and Antonelli all ploughed on and crucially, Norris was lapping significantly faster than his team-mate during this phase, despite the latter’s fresher tyres – opening up a net pit stop. Piastri then made contact with Sainz, while blue flags were being waved and who was battling Alonso at the same time and Piastri lost a couple of seconds as a result of that incident. Norris then made his second stop at the end of lap 39 and had more than enough time in hand to rejoin ahead of Piastri, while Verstappen and Antonelli remained locked in an intense battle for the final podium position and had taken over the lead while the McLarens had been in for their pit stops. By lap 42 the Aston Martin pair had edged up the order – Alonso to P14 and Stroll to P15 and it stayed like that until lap 56 when, disappointedly for Piastri, his McLaren began to slow down and ground to a halt just off the racing line, with a gearbox problem. The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was called upon as Piastri’s race was over. Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc all took the opportunity to grab a cheap pit stop, as did Alonso, but by the time he entered the pit lane the VSC conditions were being lifted, meaning the field was back running in race conditions and he came back out on track in P15, further down than expected. Stroll however, had moved up to P12. On lap 61 Alonso managed to catch and pass Colapinto and on the next lap Gasly, who’d also been into the pits during the VSC, passed Stroll, as the Canadian’s tyre wear began to take its toll. Nevertheless, both Aston Martins remained firmly settled in the midfield until the chequered flag. Out front, Norris secured victory after controlling the closing stages ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli. For Aston Martin, the final result of 13th for Stroll and 14th for Alonso told only part of the story. Throughout the race both drivers had demonstrated significantly stronger pace than in previous Grands Prix, spending prolonged periods racing directly with the midfield rather than simply circulating at the rear. Although the team missed out on championship points, the revised AMR26 had shown clear signs of progress after applying all the updates to the AMR26 with measurable improvements in grip, consistency and race pace, validating months of development work.
Reaction and Comment
Hungary was a key first step in Aston Martin’s development strategy and there was genuine relief and joy at the outcome of the race. Starting with the top man, Adrian Newey, who stated, “It's clear we've taken a very encouraging first step forward with the update, and the progress made is a huge credit to the hard work of the entire team at Silverstone. The other positive is that performance was in line with our data predictions, showing good correlation between our updated simulation tools and the track. This is a strong indication we are on the right development path for the short and longer term. With valuable learnings gathered today, we now have a solid baseline to build on when we return from the summer break, with further updates planned for Zandvoort." Lance Stroll was just delighted to be racing, "I felt good in the car today, and it was nice to feel like we were racing again. The more laps we get with the package, the more performance we'll unlock. It's the most encouraging update we've had in a long time and we've got more coming for Zandvoort, so it's positive to see we're moving in the right direction." And his team-mate, Alonso, echoed the sentiment, "It was a good step forward for us this weekend, so it's a solid baseline for us to build on when we return after the summer break. The car was performing well in the race, and we were able to fight with those around us, which was great after some difficult weekends. We'll keep pushing, and we'll see how things come together in Zandvoort, especially with Honda's update."
Aston Martin’s improvement hadn’t gone unnoticed in the Paddock and us fans, car owners and admirers of the brand can take heart that we can expect further progress in the second half of the season including the introduction of Honda's upgraded Power Unit for the Dutch Grand Prix (rumoured to improve lap time performance by half a second) and further weight saving measures on the chassis. It will take time to unlock the full potential of the AMR26 package, but progress is being made. Aston Martin departed Budapest encouraged that the long-awaited turnaround had finally begun and with genuine optimism – the team and Formula 1 will now embark on its summer break before returning to action on August 21-23.