First Aston Martin AMR26 upgrade details confirmed as Adrian Newey sets date

Adrian Newey has confirmed that Aston Martin will introduce a major upgrade package at the Hungarian Grand Prix next month.

And the legendary designer is expecting the team to make a “large step” forward in Budapest.

Adrian Newey outlines Aston Martin Hungarian GP upgrade hopes

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Formula 1’s radical overhaul of the regulations, coupled with Aston Martin’s new partnership with the championship-winning Honda power unit manufacturer, was widely tipped to bring Aston Martin into play this season.

The partnership, though, has fallen short of expectations.

Although Honda’s vibration issues dominated the early headlines, the team has also struggled with gearbox issues as well as an overall lack of downforce.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have together amassed nine retirements and one non-classified in eight grand prix weekends, with Miami marking the only race in which both cars reached the chequered flag.

With just five classified finishes and a solitary point, Aston Martin is tenth in the championship, only ahead of newcomers Cadillac.

Newey summed it up in the team’s latest Aston Martin Undercut edition as “extremely challenging.”

Challenges that Newey and Aston Martin hope to overcome with a major upgrade that will be introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“The main structural elements remain the same,” Newey revealed.

“The chassis and gearbox architecture don’t fundamentally change – but we’ve taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis.

“The front suspension is unchanged. The rear suspension is slightly revised. We’ve developed a new nose and substantially revised aerodynamic surfaces.

“So, while the core structure is similar, it’s a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction. The target is to get very close to the weight limit.”

The team principal, however, stopped short of putting a number to the revised car.

“We’re predicting a large step, but I’m reluctant to put specific numbers out there because our simulation tools aren’t yet as sophisticated or well correlated as they need to be.

“Historically, at this team, there hasn’t been enough investment in engineering simulation tools – not just project management systems, but the core physics tools themselves.

“We’re putting that investment in now, but you don’t rewrite and validate those tools overnight. Correlating them properly with the real car takes time.

“At the moment, they’re improving, but the real gains from that work will come later in the year.”

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Fernando Alonso backs Aston Martin’s ‘right’ upgrade plan

Aston Martin’s Hungarian Grand Prix update carries more weight than just the team’s performance; it could also decide Alonso’s Formula 1 future.

The Spaniard has repeatedly stated that he will decide whether or not to continue with Aston Martin, or even in Formula 1, during the summer break – and Hungary is the last race before the holiday.

“I don’t have anything in mind, and after the summer I will take the decision,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media at the Barcelona Grand Prix.

He added: “We have hopes for the second part of the year with improvement that we can be a little bit more competitive. We keep on working.

“But yeah, we need to see some results as well. Eventually we need to see some of the upgrades to make the car faster. The last few years, some of the upgrades didn’t make the car really fast as we wanted.

“So there are some things to prove with this year’s upgrades, and we are all hoping for the best.”

Although the 44-year-old would like more performance from his AMR26 today, he’s made it clear that he supports Aston Martin’s upgrade programme.

“No, I didn’t question it,” Alonso clarified to PlanetF1.com and other media, “because obviously we don’t know exactly the cost cap limitations and how much is going to change in the car, and the time that was needed to understand the problems.

“It’s not that you can trial and error with some of the upgrades, so I think we took the first three or four races to really understand our weaknesses and our limitations, to start testing on the wind tunnel solutions, to see also the other cars what kind of solutions they implement, and which ones are working.

“When you take all that to the table, you start programming the upgraded package, and obviously it takes time.

“After missing Barcelona and being in Bahrain with a bad first test and knowing our situation in Australia, which back then we didn’t know if we could complete the race, that was the uncomfortable truth that we found in Australia.

“The decision was made, and I think it’s the right decision.

“For us, it doesn’t change to bring three or four tenths in a couple of grand prix, and still be fighting at the back. We need something bigger than that.

“Everyone in the factory is working flat-out, and we need to give credit to them. We don’t know yet the results, and we don’t see the result yet, but we cannot underestimate Aston Martin as much as has been done in the last few weeks.”

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