Aston Martin's Aerodynamic Breakthrough Delivers Promise

Prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix, when Aston Martin brought in a chassis upgrade, Fernando Alonso said that we shouldn't expect too much. They didn't score points then, and it looked like they were in early trouble at Zandvoort.

But after fixing the car's issues, Aston Martin finally reaped the fruit of their labor: A magnificent P9 finish for Alonso at the Dutch Grand Prix. 

The one-lap pace is still isn't there, with both of their drivers lagging in qualifying. But the car's reliability, particularly in Alonso's hands, is a massive improvement. The Spanish driver and two-time World Champion fought his way from P18 to score two important points for the team.

Aston Martin introduced a significant 16-component upgrade package at the Hungaroring. Adrian Newey, the renowned technical designer in their garage, wanted to reshape how the AMR26 generates downforce.

The package aimed at improving the predictability of the car. They wanted the floor to have a predictable downforce, even when the rear rises, falls, or rolls through a corner. 

The floor upgrade would also work well at Circuit Zandvoort. Since the track has a lot of long, fast corners, you need a floor that produces strong, consistent downforce. This allowed Alonso to carry through the corners with more confidence.

And you can sense it in his post-race comments.

Alonso said that the car was "lovely to drive", a stark contrast from the one that gave them massive vibrations early in the season. 

Now, all eyes are set on Honda's engine development. Can they provide better driveability for the AMR26? Early in the weekend, Alonso described difficulties with the car under braking and keeping it under control.

Plus, the car is losing a lot of time on the straights, which was obvious if you watched Alonso's onboard camera in the Dutch GP. He said that the team should give more time to Honda to figure out the underlying issues of the new engine.

Covered by the shadows of Alonso's Zandvoort success is the DNF of his teammate Lance Stroll. We were too focused on hoping Alonso would keep his points position that we didn't immediately see Stroll retire.

To be fair, the Canadian driver sustained damage to his car, which resulted in a handling issue. Here's to hoping he could find more pace and consistency in Monza.