F1 boss Adrian Newey drops Aston Martin bombshell live on air at British Grand Prix

Aston Martin

Adrian Newey drops Aston Martin bombshell live on air at British Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso will be thrilled to hear it

Chris Deeley

Saturday 4 July 2026 20:52

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Do you ever conjure the mental image of Adrian Newey in some kind of old welder's or butcher's apron, with big glasses on, carefully placing one final piece of carbon fibre in place before administering 20,000 volts to this year's dead-on-arrival Aston Martin AMR26 and cackling 'it's aliiiiiive!!!!' as a Honda engine starts to roar?

Or are you one of those people who can't really imagine visuals in your head?

Relatedly, Newey has confirmed that Aston will be bringing their long-awaited summer performance to the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of the month, and he has some real expectations for it.

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Between the Hungarian Grand Prix update package and the follow-up for the next race at Zandvoort, coupled with the Honda upgrade being brought for the Dutch race, the legendary designer is official now hoping to be in a position to score points. And not just penalty and retirement-aided Monaco points, either.

Newey was nabbed by the Sky Sports F1 crew on the grid ahead of the British Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday and quizzed about the upcoming overhaul to the AMR26, admitting in response that while he's stopping short of saying Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be top-10 runners, he's hoping to be in a position where points are a possibility.

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Newey: Upgrades will come in Hungary and the Netherlands

He also reiterated his previous explanation that the decision was made at the first race of the year not to chase incremental upgrades like many teams, but instead prepare a big, meaningful, coalesced package later in the year.

"We took the decision after Melbourne that there was no point in introducing small changes that would still leave us with no chance of scoring points," he said on the Silverstone grid.

"So we take a bit of pressure off ourselves, regroup, put systems in place for the future and work on a proper upgrade which we hope for Hungary. There will be a bit more coming in Zandvoort, combined with Honda introducing an upgrade, which will be for Zandvoort.

"So at that point I'm hoping we'll be at least in a points-scoring position. I'm not saying top 10, but if we can at least get into Q2 then we can see from there."

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F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey