{"id":219,"date":"2026-07-23T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=219"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:42:36","slug":"fernando-alonso-downplays-impact-aston-martin-upgrades-in-hungary-doesnt-change-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/fernando-alonso-downplays-impact-aston-martin-upgrades-in-hungary-doesnt-change-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Alonso downplays impact of Aston Martin upgrades in Hungary: “It doesn’t change our approach”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fernando Alonso affirmed that Aston Martin\u2019s first major upgrade package of the 2026 Formula 1 season does not alter the way the team is approaching the Hungarian Grand Prix. According to the Spaniard, the objective remains maximizing available performance, though he acknowledged that this weekend will be crucial to evaluate if the squad has directed its development path correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiming to establish itself as a front-running force in the sport, the Silverstone-based outfit invested heavily in state-of-the-art facilities and high-profile technical hires\u2014most notably Adrian Newey, the legendary designer behind some of the most dominant racing cars in history. However, the partnership has yet to yield expected results, with the team struggling through issues involving both power unit performance and the underlying chassis design of the AMR26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given this reality, the British squad chose to prioritize debugging fundamental issues during the opening rounds rather than chasing raw performance. Consequently, their first major development suite arrives only this weekend in Budapest\u2014an approach that Alonso admitted contrasts starkly with rival teams across the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Upgrades don’t change our approach. We enter every race weekend trying to extract the absolute maximum from what we have. In the early races, virtually every team opted for the conventional route of bringing two or three tenths of improvement per race. Ten races in, you end up a second ahead. We didn’t do that; we chose to bring everything in one single package to regain ground,” he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"F1
Aston Martin debuts its first major upgrade package at the Hungarian GP (Photo: Aston Martin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two-time World Champion commended the relentless effort put in by the team since pre-season testing in Bahrain. Despite the uphill battle faced so far this season, Alonso reassured that his faith in Aston Martin’s long-term roadmap remains unshakeable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m extremely proud of the team and the hard work everyone has put in to diagnose and fix our issues since Bahrain testing. Hopefully, Budapest turns out to be a track that suits us well. The primary focus right now is understanding the car’s direction and whether we can unlock its latent potential,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s not that I’m waiting for answers. I have a crystal-clear vision, shared by the team, that we will resolve every single issue. It simply takes time,” he emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have zero doubt that Adrian will build the best car on the grid given time. Honda will also sort out their power unit issues. The only remaining question mark is how long it will take before this package becomes genuinely competitive,” Alonso concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula 1 returns July 24\u201326 in Budapest, host of the Hungarian GP, Round 11 of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F1 Hungarian GP: when to watch in US ET, London (UK), New Delhi (India), Shanghai (China) and Sydney (Australia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Eastern Time (ET)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a010:00 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Race:<\/strong>\u00a009:00 AM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    London Time (BST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a012:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a004:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a011:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a003:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Race:<\/strong>\u00a002:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      New Delhi Time (IST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a005:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a008:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a004:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Race:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Shanghai Time (CST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a010:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Race:<\/strong>\u00a009:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Sydney Time (AEST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          Race:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM
          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a009:30 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a001:00 AM\u00a0(overnight)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a008:30 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a012:00 AM\u00a0(midnight)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Fernando Alonso stated that he sees Aston Martin\u2019s upgrade package as an opportunity to assess whether the team has found the right development path, reiterating his full confidence in the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020309560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Fernando Alonso sees the Hungarian GP as an opportunity to evaluate whether Aston Martin has found the right path","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Aston Martin","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[100,101],"42wp_author":[93],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-aston-martin","tag-fernando-alonso","42wp_author-marcos-gil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020309560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}