Lance Stroll’s F1 mindset questioned as Aston Martin face major test at Hungarian Grand Prix

Aston Martin

Lance Stroll’s F1 mindset questioned as Aston Martin face major test at Hungarian Grand Prix

Lance Stroll has retired from four of the last five grands prix

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 23 July 2026 21:55

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Lance Stroll's mentality has been questioned by Sky Sports F1's David Croft ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Aston Martin have been struggling with both reliability and performance issues throughout the 2026 season, leading to the team only scoring one point from the opening 10 grand prix weekends of the season.

That point was scored by Stroll's team-mate Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix, meaning Stroll himself has only scored one point from the last 19 grands prix, a run stretching back to September 2025.

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Design legend Adrian Newey has been working hard to bring upgrades to the AMR26, while Honda have been desperately working to try and ensure they bring upgrades to the power unit which is used by Aston Martin.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, the fruits of Newey and Aston Martin's labour will be on show via what's being called the 'AMR26B', with a host of upgrades being brought to the circuit by the team.

They're hoping that this will help them to challenge further up the grid and get closer to their midfield rivals between now and the end of the season.

Now, Croft has revealed quite how big this weekend at the Hungaroring is for Aston Martin, and their drivers Stroll and Alonso, while also questioning the extent of Stroll's gearbox issues at last weekend's Belgian GP.

Aston Martin Hungary for upgrades

"New upgrade for Aston Martin is rumoured, speculated, and my sources at the team tell me worth about two seconds a lap, which around Spa is not going to get them anywhere, but around Budapest, it certainly might," Croft told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"They want to be racing Cadillac and Williams with this new upgrade. That is the big hope."

Croft then suggested that the drivers are going to need to change their mindset, back to racing other cars rather than just trying to survive the laps. The Brit even suggested that Stroll may have been able to carry on in Belgium, but retired anyway.

"I do worry a little bit that Fernando and Lance have not been racing all season," Croft said. "So, this might be the actual first proper race that they've been in.

"The gearbox issues that Lance has retired with in the last couple of races, I'm not quite sure how much of an issue those gearboxes were or whether he could have carried on or not, but the drivers have got to go from and change their mindset straight away from, 'we're just out there to complete as many laps as we can' to 'right, we're going racing now', and they've got to get into that mindset that they've not been in all season.

"This has dragged on a lot to round 11. But if it is worth two seconds, that is a really good start. But the pressure is on because if this doesn't work where do Aston Martin go from here?"

F1 Aston Martin Lance Stroll Hungarian Grand Prix