Sunday’s (26) Hungarian GP marked the first race for Aston Martin following a major upgrade package. Fernando Alonso, who finished 14th, was pleased with the performance of the AMR26 and believes it provides a solid foundation for further progress in the near future, calling it a significant step forward. The two-time World Champion also highlighted that further improvements will come once they receive the upgraded Honda power unit.

Aston Martin’s progress was already noticeable in qualifying, when Alonso reached Q2 for the first time in the 2026 season. In the race, while he didn’t make up massive ground, he was able to stay with the midfield pack—with both green cars finishing ahead of Haas and Williams—something that was unthinkable prior to the Belgian GP.

The Spaniard, who finished right behind teammate Lance Stroll, highlighted the opportunity to fight in the midfield again and believes there is a good foundation to build on for the second half of the season.

“It felt good to be competitive, and I think, especially at the start, we had the pace to run with the midfield, which was great. Hopefully, this provides a good baseline for us to work on with this new car,” Alonso began.

“We are looking forward to Zandvoort to try and be a bit more competitive in terms of straight-line speed, and right now we really need that extra top speed. We hope the second half of the season will essentially be a fresh start in the championship,” he emphasized.

Beyond the chassis issues, the Honda power unit has been widely regarded as the weakest on the 2026 F1 grid. However, that situation is expected to change soon, as the Japanese manufacturer has promised a upgraded engine for the Dutch Grand Prix.

“What we saw in Hungary was more or less as expected, as the correlation is solid and overall performance has improved. Of course, it’s still early to fully evaluate this car since it’s brand new and built on a different concept. Plus, we still have further setup optimization to do, along with the upcoming engine upgrade. It will be an interesting test to see where we stand and what it allows us to fight for,” Alonso explained.

Finally, the two-time champion noted that Friday’s (24) issues were resolved as soon as a power unit swap was completed. “It’s a solid step forward, both in qualifying and the race. By Saturday morning, the issues were completely sorted out. We swapped for a fresher power unit. It was likely a high-mileage engine reaching the end of its life cycle, because on Saturday and Sunday everything ran smoothly,” he concluded.

Formula 1 now enters the summer break. The 2026 season resumes from August 21–23 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.