F1 Team Tiers: Aston Martin earn surprise praise from top insider - 'They knew they were s***'

Newey arrives at Aston Martin — Photo: © IMAGO

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Aston Martin earn praise as F1 insider reveals team tiers - 'They knew they were s***'

This decision took real courage

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Saturday 15 August 2026 09:15

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Times really are changing at Aston Martin - the struggling F1 team has earned surprise praise from F1 insider Guenther Steiner as he maps out his team tiers for the first half of the 2026 season.

The expensively-assembled squad, headed by team principal and design genius Adrian Newey, spent most of H1 as a laughing stock, bringing up the rear and struggling to even finish races during the early part of the season.

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The team's new Honda power unit had vibrations which risked permanent nerve damage for drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, while Newey's chassis also failed to deliver the expected results.

But there is now light at the end of the tunnel for the Silverstone-based outfit after the team brought its first upgrade package of 2026.

Newey had the painful decision to sit and wait to deliver one huge package (16 upgrades in total) to the Hungarian Grand Prix, which meant the team was just watching their rivals disappear into the distance in previous races.

Budapest saw that enormous package deliver exactly what the team wanted and expected, with lap times improving by c. 2 seconds. Good enough for Alonso to make it out of Q1, rarified air in 2026.

It is through that prism that Steiner assessed his team tiers for the season so far, and he was brutally honest as ever, but did hand out an improved grade.

Alonso was able to make it out of Q1 in Hungary.

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Aston Martin avoid dreaded F grade

Speaking on the Red Flags podcast: "I think they would have been in the F grade a few races ago because they were two seconds behind Cadillac.

"I would give them a D+ because they did the right thing. They knew they were s*** and bringing a new front wing in one of the races or bringing a 50 gram lighter wishbone in one of the races would not make them better.

"They rightly did say: 'We don't bring little upgrades, they don't help. We will be bad for a certain amount but we work on a B spec car'.

"What they did, they came back a lot stronger. We don't know yet really how strong they are, but at least they have gone past Cadillac pretty good now."

Newey made the tough call and that deserves credit

Steiner was also keen to make the point that upgrades for the sake of upgrades are often overrated. Correlation is a real thing and on many occasions they do not have the desired impact. This time though, Aston's package did what it said on the tin.

"I would give them a D+ just for the courage to do what they did. People always like to say 'oh we're bringing upgrades and we'll go faster' and then 80 percent of the time the upgrades don't work and you don't hear about the upgrades any more.

"It's all propaganda."

Engine upgrade coming next for Aston Martin

Aston Martin could be set to make a further leap when F1 returns from its summer break for the Dutch Grand Prix next weekend. That is when Honda will bring its eagerly-awaited first power unit upgrade.

Newey meanwhile has already teased further chassis tweaks coming for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

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F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Lawrence Stroll