First look at Aston Martin’s upgraded F1 car as Fernando Alonso weighs in ahead of Hungarian GP

Aston Martin’s highly-anticipated upgraded Formula 1 car has broken cover in the paddock ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. 

The Silverstone-based outfit has brought a significant aerodynamic upgrade package to Budapest with the aim of vastly improving Aston Martin’s fortunes following a disastrous start to the 2026 F1 season. 

Aston Martin’s dubbed AMR26B was spotted for the first time publicly in the back of the team’s garage on Thursday, as mechanics worked to build it before it makes its track debut during Friday practice at the Hungaroring. 

Photos snapped during the pit lane revealed a first-look at some of the details of the upgrade package that has dominated the chatter in the build up to the weekend. 

Aston Martin is managing expectations carefully and has been quick to downplay suggestions it will be a make-or-break moment for its season.

Fernando Alonso echoed Aston Martin’s cautious stance when he faced the media during Thursday’s FIA press conference. 

“I don't think that it changes anything to the approach that we had so far this year. We go to every race trying to maximise what we have in [our] hands,” the two-time world champion said. 

“We are here to win races and to fight for championships. We didn't start the season that way, and we will not be that way either, because we are just in a process of understanding these regulations and getting into the good path with the development of the car. 

"I think for the last for the first 12 races, all the teams, they opted for a different strategy, the more conventional one, to bring two or three tenths of a second every two or three races.

“Then you ended up with one second or one second and a half by race 10 or race 12. We didn't do that, so we fell a little bit behind everyone else on the on the grid. And now we will try to catch up all in once.

"But I think it doesn't change your natural position at the end on Sundays. I'm obviously optimistic, I'm very proud of the team, of the job that they've done since the Bahrain test when we understood that we had a problem, and we had to fix a few weaknesses on the car.

“This is the first step into those fixes, but there are more to come.”

Asked how much of a step he is expecting from the upgrade, Alonso replied: “Difficult to say. I'm not thinking too much on numbers or positions or something like that, because if we go back to the last five races, I think we have very different gaps with the midfield.

“We had a more or less a consistent gap to the pole position, which is unreachable, obviously, at this moment. But there were a couple of tough circuits. Silverstone was tough, Spa was one of the toughest. We had the guy in front of us 2.1 seconds. 

“There is no package in the world that will give you that amount of time and probably the position will not change if you run the updated car in Spa one week ago. So, that's how we need to treat it. It will change circuit by circuit. 

“Hopefully, Budapest is a friendly circuit for us. Power is not the most important point here, which, obviously, we will update the car, but not the engine yet. So, we still have some deficit that we need to overcome. 

“I'm more [going] into the weekend [focusing on] understanding what is the direction of the car, if we are in the good path, and if we unlock finally the performance.”