Fernando Alonso reckons “no package in the world” can overturn the current deficit Aston Martin faces to the Formula 1 field as it prepares to introduce a B-spec chassis in Hungary.
The Silverstone outfit has endured a torrid 2026 thus far and although Alonso’s lucky point in Monaco places it above newcomer Cadillac, Aston Martin has still been the slowest team.
Last weekend in Spa, for example, Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll qualified on the back row for the fifth, consecutive race with a two-second gap to the next slowest: Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.
It’s a gap that wasn’t present at the Melbourne opener, but has come as a result of the American outfit fitting upgrades while Aston has held off to fix bigger issues on the AMR26.
But this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix will witness the British marque finally bring a radically different chassis, focused on improved aerodynamics and weight reduction, before power unit updates at Zandvoort in August.
Opinion in the paddock differs on how much of an impact these upgrades will have, Perez claiming it’ll “definitely” bring Aston closer, yet Alonso isn’t so sure.
“I’m not thinking too much on numbers or positions or something like that, because if we go back to the last five races, I think we have very different gaps with the midfields,” said the two-time champion.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“We had more or less consistent gap to the pole position, which is unreachable, obviously, at this moment. But there were a couple of tough circuits: Silverstone was tough, Spa was one of the toughest, I think we had the guy in front of us, 2.1 seconds.
“So, there is no package in the world that will give you that amount of time and probably the position will not change, if you run the updated car in Spa one week ago. So, that’s how we need to treat it.
“It will change circuit by circuit. Hopefully Budapest is a friendly circuit for us, power is not the most important point here, which obviously we will update the car, but not the engine yet.
“So we still have some deficit that we need to overcome. I’m more into, we can understand what is the direction of the car, if we are on the good path, and if we unlock, finally, the performance.”
Alonso’s comments are in line with the general message from Aston in Budapest, one that is about the management of expectations due to the situation it currently faces.
Teams bringing what’s essentially a ‘B-spec’ chassis isn’t really the done thing anymore, and so the Hungarian GP is more about the Silverstone outfit trying to understand its new package.
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer, Aston Martin
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
Chief trackside officer Mike Krack said: “When you bring substantial upgrades, it’s something the track team will have to learn as quickly as possible.
“We have no winter testing where you can just do some runs, some back-to-backs and all that. It puts a lot of emphasis on the quality of your data, on the quality of understanding your simulations.
“But we do not expect we will get everything out of it in the first run tomorrow. I think we need to learn how to manage this and how to get the best out of it.
“We have a good track team, we have a good support team from home that will go through that quickly. We will get the right conclusions quickly, but it will take a bit of time.
“I think the tests that we will have to do, basic tests, be it ride height, be it rakes and these kinds of things, will come over the next events.”
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