Aston Martin arrived in Hungary with what everyone called an upgrade package. What they actually brought was a completely redesigned B-spec car, re-crash-tested with the FIA, built because Adrian Newey concluded the original AMR26 was a dead end. That is a rather important distinction, and one the team’s PR machine was not exactly rushing to advertise.
How Bad Has It Actually Been?
The numbers are brutal. Fernando Alonso endured five consecutive point-less finishes before scraping a single point in Monaco. Lance Stroll has been even worse, finishing just four times in eleven grands prix and scoring nothing. Without that Monaco miracle, Aston Martin would be behind Cadillac in the constructors’ standings. The team that recruited Adrian Newey with fanfare currently sits tenth with one solitary point.
The root causes run deep. Honda essentially mothballed its engine programme after withdrawing from F1 in 2021, losing key engineers and falling months behind schedule. Newey, meanwhile, reportedly cancelled the existing design work on his first day and switched to his own concept, with Aston Martin’s wind tunnel not fully operational until mid-April 2025. That left them nearly four months behind rival teams before a single race had been run.
The Hungary Numbers Demand Honesty
The team celebrated Alonso reaching Q2 at the Hungaroring and finishing just 2.5 seconds off the qualifying pace. Impressive? Honda’s own president Koji Watanabe acknowledged the improvement was partly down to circuit characteristics. The Hungaroring is roughly half the length of Spa, where Aston Martin had been four seconds off the pace. The maths is not exactly flattering. Stroll’s suspension failure on the brand-new car during FP1 did little to inspire confidence either.
Newey himself was candid enough to admit:
“These first races have been a complete nightmare. Hopefully we can get at least to a point of respectability now.” – Adrian Newey
Coulthard and Steiner Are Betting on the Long Game
Despite everything, there is no shortage of believers. Former driver David Coulthard predicts Aston Martin will make the biggest progress of any team over the next two years and will win grands prix by 2028. Former Haas boss Günther Steiner goes further in the short term, tipping Aston Martin to overhaul Williams in the constructors’ standings before the season ends. Williams currently hold nine points on them, and Steiner does not think they will add to their tally.
Alonso, who extended his contract specifically to drive a Newey-designed car, remains publicly loyal.
“I have no doubt, absolutely none, that Adrian will deliver the best car on the grid sooner or later.” – Fernando Alonso
He also hinted, however, that the 2026 regulations have drained the adrenaline from driving an F1 car, raising quiet questions about how much longer he wants to continue. Check our 2026 midseason report for the full picture on where every team stands.
Newey’s Reputation on the Line
The uncomfortable question nobody wants to ask too loudly is whether Newey overestimated his own ability to walk into a team mid-cycle and immediately impose a winning concept. The 2026 regulations caught several teams off guard, but few quite as catastrophically as this. Even the greatest designers eventually find the sport has moved faster than they have. The Dutch GP at Zandvoort, where Honda brings its first power unit upgrade, will offer the first genuinely meaningful data point. Until then, the optimism is real, but so is the scepticism.
