Newey and Aston Martin’s Upgrades: “The Goal Is to Be Respectable”

Adrian Newey, Aston Martin team principal and technical partner, has explained that the team's immediate goal with the introduction of its upgrade package at the Hungarian Grand Prix is to reach a point of respectability. The British team has had a forgettable 2026 season with the AMR26 and the Honda power unit well below expectations: "It's very early to understand the upgrades, but the provisional results are promising" declared Newey in Friday's press conference.

Aston Martin introduced 16 updates at the Hungaroring, according to the FIA document, and the renewed car hit the track on Friday. Fernando Alonso finished FP1 in thirteenth position, 2.4 seconds off the leaders' pace: "It's just part of the package, we will have more steps in Zandvoort and then more in Monza and Baku. It's the first part of our planned update" explained Newey.

The British designer detailed the changes introduced on the AMR26: "It's an evolution in the sense that the chassis is the same, the layout is the same, the front suspension is the same, it's very much an aerodynamic evolution. We were very short of research time before launching the car in Barcelona, so it's really been a matter of taking a step back, trying to understand, and moving forward with this package" he stated.

Newey was cautious about performance targets: "I've never been a fan of setting targets, I'm much more in favor of working logically through the problems, getting everyone to work together, getting the culture to work and at that point, you end up where you end up. What I've found over the years is that when you're not winning it seems like an impossible mountain to climb and when you're winning, sometimes you're not sure how you got there" he reflected.

The Aston Martin boss hopes the upgrades will allow the team to get off the bottom of the grid: "Hopefully we can at least get to a point of respectability now, I think that's the immediate goal, from there we can try to keep moving forward" said Newey.

The team also suffered a setback in FP1 when Lance Stroll spun between turns 2 and 3, with the team reporting a suspected left rear suspension problem: "As you can imagine everyone is trying to understand exactly what went wrong, it's only when we have that understanding that we can comment on what we do next" explained Newey.

The designer confirmed that the affected area has not been modified: "The area involved hasn't actually been changed, we are short on spare parts because the coating and so on is different, there are some minor changes in that area, in that sense, it's very unexpected" he stated.

Aston Martin hopes that the upgrade package introduced in Hungary will be the first step in getting off the bottom of the grid and starting to compete in the second half of the season.

Aston Martin's path to recovery has just begun in Hungary. Newey trusts that the upgrade package will be the first step to leaving behind this season's nightmare.

The team aspires to be respectable again, although the process will be long and demanding.