Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin has finally found a platform to build on after the team's heavily upgraded AMR26 showed genuine signs of progress during its first full race weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
While the Silverstone-based outfit was never in contention for points on Sunday, the result told only part of the story. After spending much of the season fighting at the back of the Formula 1 field, Aston’s revamped machine looked capable of taking the battle to the midfield, giving Alonso renewed optimism heading into the second half of the campaign.
The two-time world champion reached Q3 for the first time this season before finishing 14th, one place behind teammate Lance Stroll, whose 13th-place finish marked his strongest result of the year.
Alonso sees encouraging foundation
After several difficult months, Alonso was encouraged less by the finishing position than by the pace the revised AMR26 displayed, particularly in the opening phase of Sunday's race.
“I think it was good to feel again the competitiveness and I think especially at the beginning, I think we had the pace to follow more or less the midfields,” the two-time world champion explained.
“That was good, and hopefully a good baseline to work with this new car.”
©Aston Martin
The performance reinforced the positive signs Aston Martin had shown throughout the weekend, suggesting the extensive upgrade package has given the team a much stronger foundation to develop over the remainder of the season.
And with further improvements already scheduled – including additional chassis developments and a revised power unit set to debut at the Dutch Grand Prix – Alonso believes there is every reason to expect more progress after Formula 1's summer break.
Zandvoort already in Aston Martin's sights
The team's next major milestone will come at Zandvoort, where Aston Martin hopes to address one of its biggest weaknesses: straight-line speed.
“Yeah, exactly,” said Alonso. “Especially on the engine, obviously, we are looking forward to Zandvoort and trying to get a little bit more competitive in terms of straight-line speed, which is the race that we are in the mix now.
“We need that extra speed on the straight so, yeah, hopefully a new start of the championship for us basically in the second part.”
©Aston Martin
Stroll echoed Alonso's optimism after enjoying his most competitive weekend of the season, believing Aston Martin has finally taken a meaningful step forward.
“We were in the mix with the midfield for the first time this year, so it was good,” the Canadian explained.
“We just have to keep pushing. I think we took a big step this weekend, so we just need to keep pushing.”
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For a team that has spent much of the first half of the season searching for answers, Hungary offered something that had been in short supply: tangible evidence that its development direction is beginning to pay off.
With further upgrades still to come, Aston Martin heads into the summer break with fresh momentum – and the belief that the second half of the championship could tell a very different story.
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