Aston Martin make bold ‘full potential’ claim as huge AMR26 update nears

Aston Martin will start to show its “full potential”, with the Budapest upgrade only the start of what should be a big upswing in the team’s performance.

The intent with the upgraded AMR26 is to allow the Aston Martin drivers to be able to get in the mix in the midfield, with a notable step forward in terms of ultimate laptime.

Pedro de la Rosa says Aston Martin’s AMR26 upgrade marks the start of bigger gains

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In the week prior to the British Grand Prix, Aston Martin released a long-form interview with team boss and managing technical partner Adrian Newey, in which the legendary designer confirmed the long-awaited upgrades coming to the AMR26 will be introduced at this month’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rather than embark on a steady drip-feed of upgrades, Newey and chief technical officer Enrico Cardile have focused on a comprehensive upgrade package to introduce what is intended as a “large step” forward.

A re-homologation of the forward chassis was required, thanks to a weight-saving programme, while a new nose and “substantially revised” aerodynamic surfaces will also be introduced alongside a revised rear suspension.

While there has been no volunteering of an official guess as to how big a step forward the update might be in terms of laptime, the whispers are of a gain of more than a second a lap on the chassis front, while the anticipated Honda power unit upgrade coming at Zandvoort could represent another couple of tenths.

All the pieces are coming together for what should be a more competitive second half of the season for Aston Martin, and team spokesperson Pedro de la Rosa labelled the changes as marking the start of an “exciting” period for Lawrence Stroll’s team.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com, the Spaniard opted against guessing just how much of a step Aston Martin might make in pace, but said the intent is to give Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll a reason to smile again.

“It has to help the drivers fight, basically… fight, enjoy themselves, have a more predictable platform, faster, and eventually more competitive,” he said, when asked about the target with the new upgrades.

“So we should never put up a target on how quick on what type of leap we want to make with this upgrade, because there are many unknowns yet, and we should be very cautious, because there’s no point in actually saying something; we just have to deliver.

“We are at a point now of being last; we just have to deliver. Our fans deserve that, but we all want to have a more competitive package.

“Adrian has explained it very well. It’s not only an aero upgrade; there are many areas of the car that will be stronger, starting by also improving the weight-saving programme we’re putting in place.

“So I just hope that, when Lance and Fernando come out of the car, they have a smile and they have been able to fight. At the moment, we are not able to fight.”

Following last month’s extremely difficult Barcelona Grand Prix, chief trackside officer Mike Krack had apologised to Aston Martin’s fans over the team’s uncompetitive showing, but De La Rosa said there is a new message to the fans in light of the upgrades.

“We are excited, but we are also realistic,” he said.

“The message is we are working flat out. There are many areas that we are improving, and we will improve, but there will still be a lot of other areas that will still need to improve further.

“However, we will be in a better position than we are right now. The fans deserve it, our partners deserve it, and our people… I’m not talking about Fernando and Lance only, talking about all the factory and people that have been working flat out, and they are accountable for the results, and they didn’t really deserve it.

“But let’s not forget that Formula 1 is difficult. We’re coming from very far away, and it will take time.

“It’s not like Hungary will mark the beginning. It will be another process in front of Hungary, another development programme… I mean, it’s not like we finish there; it’s an ongoing process.”

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In the extensive interview with Newey, he revealed that there were “structural” areas of the team that weren’t working: a legacy of the team’s long and storied history dating back to 1991, when it arrived on the grid as Jordan Grand Prix.

Having the knowledge and experience he’s gleaned from his years with championship-winning organisations like Red Bull, McLaren, and Williams, Newey said he’d taken the opportunity to overhaul how Aston Martin operates.

“We’re making big strides in our in‑house facilities and production capabilities,” he said.

“You won’t see all the gains immediately, but they’ll be visible on the updated car: many more components are now produced in‑house. The gearbox casing is manufactured here, the floor patterns and floors themselves are made here, and a lot of parts that were previously outsourced have come back in-house.

“That gives us better cost control, but more importantly, much greater flexibility and control over our own destiny.

“Bringing more work in‑house gives us better quality control, better responsiveness and a tighter feedback loop from research to design to manufacture.”

It’s a similar revolution to what James Vowles identified as needed at Williams earlier this year, following his squad’s under-delivery to start the new regulation cycle, with these legacy teams operating with methodologies and processes that simply have not kept pace with what the demands of modern F1 require.

De La Rosa said he’s confident the necessary changes have now been made to bring Aston Martin up to this cutting-edge standard, thanks to Newey’s experience.

“It just proves how competitive Formula 1 is, and how difficult it is. To be successful in Formula 1, you need to have everything in place,” he said.

“It’s not easy to get everything, and, especially, it’s a slow process, and in this slow process, there are many people who give up and cannot keep going, for financial reasons or whatever.

“We’ve done most of the hard work. Right now, we just have to stick together, keep united, keep working under the great leadership of Adrian, and that’s about it.

“It’s never going to be easy. We knew it was going to be difficult. It will always be difficult, but that also makes it more attractive for everyone.

“I’m just very, very excited about what’s coming next. It really has been difficult, but now we only have Spa, really, and then we can talk about being able to fight.”

With the Budapest update marking the start of what should represent an upswing for Aston Martin, it could also be the point that the fruits of Stroll’s extensive investment into factory facilities and infrastructure start to pay off.

Over the last five years, Stroll transformed the aging Jordan/Force India factory into one of the most modern and technologically-advanced facilities in F1, including the latest R&D developments, a state-of-the-art driver-in-loop simulator, and a new wind tunnel.

“I think we are at the point where we will see in the next few months our full potential,” he said.

“Having said that, you are always progressing and need to progress in Formula 1.

“What is good now, in six months’ time is completely obsolete technology. But I think that you need a lot of things to be successful in Formula 1. It’s not only the people; we have the people, the talent, but Lawrence always says you need the tools to give to your team and the processes, and we can say now proudly that we finally have all these in place.

“We just need to give time to our people to develop the tools and also to work on them. So it’s a very exciting time.

“It might not look like it, looking at where we are at the moment on the grid, but it’s really exciting times.

“Everything is falling into shape, and all the puzzle is being completed.”

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