F1 Hungary: Fernando Alonso gives first verdict on Aston Martin updates after finishing 19th in FP2

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso gives first verdict on Aston Martin updates after finishing 19th in FP2 at Hungarian GP

Fernando Alonso has only scored one point so far this season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 25 July 2026 13:13

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Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso issued a positive verdict on his heavily-upgraded AMR26, despite finishing 19th during the second practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Aston Martin had a mixed Friday at the Hungaroring. The excitement of the 16 upgrades and almost entirely different AMR26 soon wore off, when Lance Stroll was forced out of FP1 with a suspected broken rear suspension.

The incident meant that Stroll was not even able to head out in FP2, meaning he did not get the running in the B-spec AMR26 that he would have liked.

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Alonso, on the other hand, did well to put in a time quick enough for 13th in FP1, before finishing 19th in FP2, where he was more focusing on long-run pace.

Design legend Adrian Newey has been working hard on Aston Martin's upgrades ever since it became clear that their first chassis design was below par.

Aston Martin have struggled with performance and reliability issues in 2026, and have so far only scored one point from the opening 10 grand prix weekends of the season.

But now, they are hoping to be challenging more closely with the midfield teams, before building towards a future challenge for podiums and race victories in 2027 or 2028.

Alonso's first thoughts on Aston Martin upgrades

Alonso certainly appears happy with the first step that the team have taken, with more upgrades planned for the Italian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix later in the summer.

"Yeah, it felt good," Alonso told media after FP2. "I think in general we had what we expected in terms of numbers and correlation, which is obviously very encouraging for the future as well, for next year's car and the future upgrades this year.

"So yeah, still a long way to go for us, obviously starting so far behind, but this is the first step, hopefully, of good ones coming."

These upgrades are said to have a big bearing on whether or not Alonso will sign a new contract in the sport, although the 44-year-old played down that talk ahead of the Hungarian GP weekend.

Alonso is due to be out of contract at the end of this season, and still needs to make a final decision as to whether he will continue on in the sport or not in 2027.

Remarkably, the Spaniard made his F1 debut back in 2001, and has raced in the most amount of grands prix in F1 history.

Alonso is also a two-time world champion, with those two championships won in 2005 and 2006, but he has not won a grand prix since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

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