Aston Martin confirms ‘different direction’ as $1million question answered

Aston Martin’s Mike Krack has confirmed that the team will move in a “different” aerodynamic direction with its major AMR26 upgrade at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

And he says he is “quite confident” that the team will answer the $1million question by ensuring that both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be able to run the new parts this weekend.

Aston Martin to take ‘different direction’ with B-spec AMR26

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Aston Martin has brought a significant update to Hungary as it looks to bounce back from a challenging first half of the F1 2026 season.

As reported by PlanetF1.com, the first images of the new-look AMR26 car emerged on Thursday morning in Budapest.

Team principal Adrian Newey recently confirmed that Aston Martin is targeting a significant weight reduction with the B-spec AMR26, which also features a revised nose, rear suspension and aerodynamic surfaces.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in Budapest on Thursday, Krack confirmed that the team is pursuing a new development path with the upgrade.

He said: “I think Adrian mentioned it already a while ago that the upgrade is a significant aerodynamic upgrade and a weight reduction. That is the key or the red line of it.”

Asked directly if the new-look AMR26 follows the same concept as the previous version, he added: “You would have to ask the aero experts for the detail, but I suspect that we will move more in a different direction.”

Krack said after last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix that it is “the one-million-dollar question” whether both Alonso and Stroll’s cars will be fitted with the upgrades for Hungary.

In an update on Thursday, he spoke optimistically that the team will have both cars ready for the start of Friday practice.

He said: “Both cars have the same spec.

“As we said last week, we’re working on it. Yesterday the garage was empty, the garage is now not empty.

“So we’re working on having two cars ready for tomorrow morning.

“I’m confident. That was the plan, we work to that plan and I’m quite confident that we will be ready.”

Asked if Aston Martin has the previous-spec chassis on site in Hungary, he quipped: “You want to buy them?

“Yes, of course. You always need a spare chassis. With the time available, the spare chassis is obviously the previous spec.”

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Newey has previously spoken about Aston Martin’s simulation teams being weaker than rival teams, limiting the team’s rate of progress.

Krack admitted that the team may require time to fully optimise its new package.

He explained: “When you bring substantial upgrades, it’s something that the track team will have to learn as quick as possible.

“We have no winter testing where you can just do some runs, some back to backs and all that.

“So it puts obviously a lot of emphasis on the quality of your data, on the quality of understanding and simulations.

“But we do not expect that we get everything out of it in the first run tomorrow, so I think we need to learn how to manage this and how to get the best out of it.

“We have a good track team, we have a good support team from home that will go through that quickly and we will get the right conclusions quickly, but it will take a bit of time.

“So I think the tests that we will have to do – the basic tests, be it ride height, be it rake and this kind of thing – will come over the next events.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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