Adrian Newey package direction confirmed as Fernando Alonso delivers verdict

Fernando Alonso has warned that, despite progress at Aston Martin, there is still “a long way to go” before the team and Honda can count themselves as contenders.

An extensive upgrade was brought to Aston Martin’s chassis for the Hungarian Grand Prix, and Wednesday is set to see the debut of an updated power unit from Honda, as the AMR26 takes in a filming day.

Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin has ‘long way to go’ despite progress

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Aston Martin fell behind Cadillac to the back of the F1 pack in recent races, with the team having opted to introduce its first significant round of upgrades in Hungary rather than smaller, incremental improvements, in the hope of a larger step in performance.

Alonso got through to Q2 for the first time in 2026 as a result of its early progress, with Honda’s updated engine set to debut at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.

While Aston Martin had hoped to hit the ground running in 2026, its improvements at the Hungaroring saw the team seemingly leapfrog Williams, Cadillac, and Haas in the race pecking order.

However, there are still further hurdles from here.

“We are one team. We work together. We know our weakness and we try to help each other,” Alonso told PlanetF1.com and others in Hungary.

“I think Honda was trying to help some of the weaknesses of the car at the beginning of the year. Now with the chassis, we try to help Honda as much as we can, and with also the consistency on laps, on deployment.

“I think a lot of help from Aston Martin as well on that regard, on that software department.

“It’s a long way to go. We understand that, we are aware of that, but this hopefully is the first step, and both factories are gaining confidence and trust in what they do, so that that probably will be more important than anything else for the next few months.”

More about Aston Martin and its new updates

All eyes on Aston Martin and Newey as FIA reveals 16-part AMR26 upgrade

Honda confirms engine upgrade debut in new Aston Martin boost

With a massive 16-part upgrade having gone onto the car, the AMR26 looked distinctly different in Hungary as the Adrian Newey-led design team made significant changes.

Newey said there will be more parts to come in future races, and with so much having changed on the car, Alonso hopes to make further inroads into how to make the best of the new package.

“I think as expected, more or less the correlation is good and the performance gains are there, what we expected,” Alonso explained.

“I think it’s obviously early days with this new car. It’s a completely new car, new concept, so more to come, maybe on setup, optimisation, and things like that.

“Next races also with the engine upgrade, it will be an interesting check in Zandvoort [of] where we are and what we can fight for.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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