Aston Martin F1 chief announces more upgrades to come: 'This will be the final version of the car'

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Aston Martin

Aston Martin F1 chief announces more upgrades to come: 'This will be the final version of the car'

All eyes on Baku

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Thursday 3 September 2026 18:45

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Aston Martin's chief technical officer Enrico Cardile has shared an update on the team's F1 upgrade plans, and there is still more to come!

After an extremely difficult first half of the season, Aston Martin introduced a major upgrade package to the AMR26 at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of the summer break, and Adrian Newey's magic appeared to work, with the team becoming instantly more competitive.

Those Budapest upgrades were followed by further aerodynamic updates in Zandvoort ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, where Honda also provided the team with a new spec power unit.

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While Honda and the team still have some driveability issues to get on top of, the further additions once again had a positive effect, with Fernando Alonso securing P9 in Sunday's race and scoring two points - double what Aston Martin had scored in the opening 11 rounds of the season.

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When are Aston Martin's next upgrades?

Aston Martin now sit on three points for the year and remain in 10th place, but with momentum behind them and further upgrades to come, they have Williams in ninth firmly in their sights.

Honda has admitted that it could be a tough weekend in Monza given their power unit deficit, but further upgrades are coming to the AMR26 later this month in Baku that should help them find even more lap time.

“After Hungary, we brought a few small refinements – tweaks to the front wing and floor at Zandvoort. Those will be the last planned aero developments for this car," Cardile told AstonMartinF1.com ahead of Monza.

“The only exception would be if, while we’re developing the 2027 car, we discover something that it makes sense to test on track this year to help our correlation. But as of now, nothing more is scheduled.

“We do still have our weight‑saving programme to complete. That should be done around Baku. From Baku onwards, we’ll essentially be running the final version of the car for the rest of the season.”

Aston Martin weight reduction 'significant'

Cardile continued, revealing that the team will reduce a 'significant' amount of weight from the AMR26 ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, hailing it as a 'major' achievement.

“It depends on what you choose as your reference race, but it’s a significant number – enough to dramatically improve lap time," Cardile explained when quizzed on how much weight the team had saved.

“That’s a major achievement. Sometimes it comes from changing individual parts. Other times, it means rethinking how something was engineered in the first place – even the chassis. It’s a mix of small details and big structural ideas.

“In Baku, we should be very, very close to the weight limit, which is where you always want to be.”

F1 Aston Martin