Make-or-break? Aston Martin’s first words on major F1 upgrade at Hungarian GP

Aston Martin has denied that its highly-anticipated Hungarian Grand Prix upgrade will be “make-or-break” for its Formula 1 season. 

The Silverstone-based outfit is set to debut what is being dubbed as a B-spec AMR26 car to the final race before the F1 summer break in Budapest in the hope of elevating itself from the back of the grid after a miserable 2026 campaign so far. 

Aston Martin has described the update package as a “significant aerodynamic upgrade”. Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will have the same-spec available in Hungary as the team looks to bounce back after falling well below expectations this season. 

But Aston Martin has moved to downplay expectations in Hungary, with trackside chief Mike Krack stressing it is simply “one step” in the right direction. 

“It will not be a make-or-break,” Krack insisted to media in Budapest. “I think we are all realistic. We had a plan and we worked to that plan, and success and setbacks are part of sport. 

“We have been in a difficult situation, or a difficult spot before, and we try to get out of it, but there's more steps needed, and this is part of the development strategy. 

“So I would not call it make-or-break. It is just, the development needs to continue. We will have these regulations for a couple of years coming and it's just one step in my opinion.”

Krack continued: “The reason why we do this is to go racing and we have not been racing over the last events. This is what we need to return to. 

“So, now, where we race in that big competitive field, we will see. This I can really not predict, but the key question is are we back in the game? Because we were not before.”

Despite mass excitement surrounding the upgrade, Aston Martin is not expecting a transformative step overnight. 

Instead, Krack says it “will take a bit of time” for the team to get the best out of the package. 

“When you bring substantial upgrades, it's something that the track team will have to learn as quick as possible,” he explained. 

We have no winter testing uh, 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 your simulations. 

But we do not expect that we get everything out of it in the first run tomorrow. 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. The tests we will have to do are basic tests. Be it ride height, be it rakes and these kinds of things will come over the next events.”