Honda announce Aston Martin boost for Hungary ahead of F1 summer break upgrades

Honda have confirmed that Aston Martin will be bringing a chassis upgrade to this weekend's F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, explaining how they will play a part in ensuring everything goes to plan with it.

The highly anticipated chassis upgrade which Aston Martin have design legend Adrian Newey to thank for has split opinion so far, but this weekend we will finally get to see whether the improvements translate into a boost on track.

The Silverstone F1 squad currently sit second from bottom in the constructors' standings thanks to the single point Fernando Alonso has won for them across the first 10 rounds of the campaign, with only Cadillac sat below them.

But the unfortunate reality for Aston Martin is that even the brand new American squad have been ahead of them on track for most of this year, with gaps of up to six seconds seen at last weekend's race in Spa.

The Belgian GP once again saw neither Alonso nor his team-mate Lance Stroll make it to the finish line, but there is light at the end of the tunnel as Newey's first chassis upgrade is expected to improve their aerodynamic package this weekend.

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Honda lay out Aston Martin Hungarian GP expectations

Ahead of the final race before the annual summer shutdown, Honda's trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara painted a picture of what fans can expect from Aston Martin given they will only be bringing an upgrade on the chassis side, not the power unit, which is instead coming into play at the first race back in August, the Dutch Grand Prix.

"The big talking point for the Hungarian Grand Prix is that the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team will introduce their chassis upgrade," said Orihara in a Honda preview of the Hungarian GP.

"We are working closely with them to support on the power unit integration aspects, making FP1 a very important session to check the functionalities."

Turning his attention to the specific demands of the Hungarian track, the Japanese engineer added: "The Hungaroring is less sensitive for the power unit so we may be able to expect better performance despite not having our B-spec engine here.

"It’s also typically a warm race so we will need to check the cooling elements too at the start of the weekend."

The last race before the summer break is here ??

Shintaro Orihara previews the Hungarian Grand Prix:
“The big talking point for the Hungarian Grand Prix is that the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team will introduce their chassis upgrade... pic.twitter.com/gvBzWaoE62

— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) July 21, 2026

When is the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix?

Just like last weekend's event in Belgium, the Hungarian GP will follow a traditional schedule, kicking off with FP1 on Friday, July 24 at 13:30 local time (CEST). The track action will continue on Friday evening at 5pm local time.

Saturday will begin with the final hour of practice from 12:30 until 13:30 CEST before the first competitive session of the weekend commences with qualifying at 16:00.

Lights out for Sunday's Hungarian GP will then take place at 3pm CEST, which is 2pm BST for those tuning in from the UK.

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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