Alonso “optimistic” about Aston Martin’s major upgrade
Fernando Alonso says he is “optimistic” about the major upgrade Aston Martin are introducing at the Hungarian Grand Prix but has cautioned against expecting too much. The team are introducing a new car effectively with less weight, including a new chassis, and a significant aerodynamic change.
It is their first upgrade of the year after starting the season with a car and engine well below the best. The team has taken a very different approach to the usual one by introducing a bigger upgrade rather than other teams who brought upgrades in Miami and/or Barcelona.
This was done as the team decided it was the most efficient use of their budget within the sport’s spending cap. But it means Aston Martin have progressively fallen further behind the field.
Alonso told BBC News, “Budapest is a friendly circuit for us. Power is not the most important here, but we update the car and not the engine yet. I am more into the weekend, understanding the direction of the car, if we are in a good path and we can unlock finally the performance.”
The last two circuits, Silverstone and Spa, have been particularly difficult for them because of the lack of performance of their Honda engine. In Barcelona last month, where testing took place six months prior, a more corner-dependent track, they were four seconds off pole position, and more than three seconds off the Racing Bulls and Audi teams at the front of the midfield.
That is partly why Alonso is resisting the temptation to give any kind of judgement on where the term might end up this weekend. He added, “I am not thinking on numbers or positions. In the last five races we have very different gaps to the midfield.”
“The other teams opted for a more conventional upgrade path, bringing 0.1-0.2secs every few races and then you end up with a second in race twelve. We didn’t do that and we try to catch up all in one go. It doesn’t change your natural position in the end.”
However, Honda’s engine is not changing this weekend, a upgrade to the engine to the next race, the Dutch Grand Prix, after a four-week summer break and the first standalone race since Montreal.
He has said that he is committed to Aston Martin for the long term whether he stays in F1 or not. But he said his decision would not be based solely on how the upgrade performed.
Not make-or-break upgrades for Aston Martin
Aston Martin has denied that its highly anticipated upgrade for this weekend is “make or break” for its season, while it’s also seen as a key factor in Fernando Alonso’s future, though the two-time champion denied that earlier this week.
The team are hoping to bring the B-spec 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 difficult first half of the season. They’ve described the update package as a “significant aerodynamic upgrade”. Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will have the same spec as the team looks to bounce back after falling well below expectations this season.
Despite that, Aston Martin has moved to downplay expectations in Hungary, with trackside chief Mike Krack stressing it is simply “one step” in the right direction. Speaking to the media, Krack said, “It will not be a make-or-break. 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.”
He says this is why the team goes racing, and they haven’t been doing that over the last few races, but he didn’t want to predict where the team would be. Also, the upgrades would not be a transformative step overnight.
Red Bull getting “good calls” about Verstappen’s seats
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has suggested they are getting calls from “good drivers” about potential future seats at the team but believes they will make the further pace improvements required to ensure Max Verstappen stays.
The Dutchman has a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, but there are performance clauses that would allow him to leave at the end of this year. He is thought to have until October to inform the team should he wish to activate a break in the deal.
It was reported in June that his management had talked with McLaren, though CEO Zak Brown has subsequently made clear that “I’ve got my two drivers” in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Mercedes and Ferrari’s drivers are also under contract, seemingly limiting Verstappen’s short-term options beyond Red Bull, should he first choose to stay in F1, into 2027.
Asked by Sky Sports whether his team, in turn, had also received enquiries from drivers elsewhere on the grid, Mekies replied, “It’s working in both directions. It’s completely natural, and I think that’s what you guys were reporting before. It’s completely natural Max gets called from everyone because he’s the best driver in the world and, equally, if you are a top team, you are going to get calls from many of these good drivers around as well. That’s natural.”
“The full focus is to get that car as fast as it can, then you will keep your best driver in the world, and we also see there’s a massive growth of Isack [Hadjar] alongside Max. That for us is the ideal pairing, and we try to make sure we can keep that pairing.”
Since those comments, Red Bull has made further progress with Verstappen finishing on the podium in two of the last three races, although he endured a difficult Silverstone where he spun out late on due to a rear-wing fault. Isack Hadjar finished sixth from twenty-first on the grid last weekend in Belgium to extend his run of top-six finishes to six races
Red Bull believes they need to continue progressing with the car to keep Verstappen is a similar way to last year, as they started again on the back foot and they have closed the gap to Mercedes.
Five drivers to miss FP1
Kimi Antonelli will be among five drivers to sit out first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday. Under the regulations, each driver, unless it’s their rookie season, must miss two FP1 sessions to allow young drivers to get mileage in an F1 car.
Budapest being a traditional weekend as well as not being a street circuit or one where drivers need confidence makes it an ideal opportunity to do so. Antonelli, who leads Lewis Hamilton by forty-five points and George Russell by fifty points in the Drivers’ Championship, will be replaced by Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti. It also means he fulfils his quota for this season, with Russell not yet missing a session.
Current F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli will replace Oscar Piastri, with both McLarens needing to miss one more session this season. Fornaroli, who won the F3 and F2 titles in consecutive seasons in 2024 and 2025, drove Lando Norris’ car in Barcelona last month and has been linked to a Haas seat for next year.
He has been linked to replacing Esteban Ocon next year and also did a TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) test last month. Oliver Bearman will also miss first practice in Budapest as Ryo Hirakawa gets his second outing of the season, while Paul Aron will have his third of 2026 when he drives Franco Colapinto’s Alpine. Aron was previously loaned out to Audi earlier this year for practice sessions in Barcelona and Austria.
Former IndyCar driver Colton Herta will also be in action in first practice as he gets behind the wheel of Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac.
Mercedes needs to wait to find anomalies
George Russell will have to wait until the Italian Grand Prix to find out whether Mercedes has truly identified the cause of the anomalies that hampered him between Silverstone and Spa, as the team identifies the source of his power unit issue within its software.
At the last two races, the Englishman has repeatedly complained about a lack of performance on the straights, a feeling that was also confirmed by telemetry comparisons with teammate Kimi Antonelli’s car. But the initial investigation quickly ruled out both a loss of power from the power unit and any deficit in top speed.
From the outset, the situation appeared far from straightforward. In the first sector at Spa – the entire stretch from La Source to the braking zone for Les Combes – Russell’s sector times were in line with Antonelli’s, something that would not be consistent with a simple power deficit.
On Sunday in Spa, Russell’s race ended after a couple of corners, which didn’t provide an opportunity to verify whether that hypothesis was correct. According to Motorsport.com, the root cause was found deep within the power unit management software code, but basically the software was deploying electrical energy too early, using an excessive amount during the first part of the lap.
The result was an imbalance in energy distribution: whatever was gained early in the lap inevitably had to be paid back in the later sectors. The result was an imbalance in energy distribution: whatever was gained early in the lap inevitably had to be paid back in the later sectors.
The team also believe that part of the issue could be down to the way Russell drives the car, which amplified the effects of the software anomaly. Mercedes nevertheless believes it has identified the primary cause of the problem and does not need to replace the power unit.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella recently explained that the current Mercedes power units feature adaptive logic that gradually learns a driver’s habits, adjusting energy management based on their driving style.
However, the team will need to wait until Monza, which is the next power-sensitive circuit
Last Time Out … Spa – Francorchamps
FP1 was topped by Max Verstappen, who set a 47.070 to put himself almost a tenth and a half ahead of the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton, who was over half a tenth faster than his teammate Charles Leclerc. While Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar was a quarter of a second off his teammate.
FP2 saw Kimi Antonelli fastest with a 45.944, putting himself just under two tenths faster than Lando Norris. Verstappen put his Red Bull third, going three and three-quarters of a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton, who split the Red Bulls; he was just over a quarter of a second behind Verstappen and ahead of Isack Hadjar by a quarter of a tenth.
FP3 was again topped by Antonelli with a 45.990, going just under a tenth and a half faster than Lando Norris. Verstappen put his Red Bull third, going a hundredth behind Norris and ahead of George Russell by two-tenths. Hamilton was a quarter of a tenth behind his former teammate, but crashed late in the session at Fagnes, damaging his car.
Qualifying saw Antonelli beat Verstappen by just over three tenths to take pole. The championship leader continued his strong weekend, setting a 44.361 to go ahead of the Red Bull. Verstappen out-qualified his fellow half-Belgian Lando Norris by a tenth and a quarter despite the world champion bailing out of his last attempt.
Antonelli took his sixth victory of the season to complete his bounce-back from recent setbacks, finishing nearly two seconds ahead of Leclerc. The Italian looks to take control as his teammate and title rival, Russell, crashed out in a first-lap collision with former teammate Hamilton.
Antonelli had to fight for victory after losing out under a virtual safety car around half distance when he dropped behind Leclerc and Lando Norris. But in ten laps, he found his way past Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen before getting passed by Leclerc at La Combes with ten laps to go. Over the remaining laps, he pulled a small advantage over Leclerc to secure victory.
Talking Points Mogyoród
Round eleven brings F1 to its halfway stage and final round before the summer break in the village of Mogyoród, eleven miles outside Budapest, for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Hungaroring was designed in the 1980s to have a similar feel to a street circuit after the original plan fell through.
The 2.722-mile circuit has many street-circuit traits: low speeds, high downforce demands and limited overtaking opportunities. While races here have featured more passing over the past decade, the Hungaroring remains a challenge for modern, wider cars, earning its long-standing nickname: “Monaco without the barriers”.
The circuit just outside Budapest is energy-rich, meaning there will be far less discussion in the paddock about energy management than over the previous two race weekends
While Mercedes has led much of this season, it has been one of polar opposites for its drivers; Kimi Antonelli has been the team’s main charger while teammate George Russell has been hampered by most of the reliability issues.
There are now 50 points between Antonelli and Russell; Hamilton is also in the mix, sitting 45 off the top, and if the Italian maintains a similar advantage after Spa, it would take a collapse that mirrors that of Fernando Alonso in 2012. Hamilton’s own collapse in that 2012 season came to a head in Singapore, prompting his genius move from McLaren to Mercedes.
Red Bull was a much more superior car, though, so for Alonso to even be in that position was remarkable. Whereas the Mercedes is the class of the field, so it’d take something extraordinary for Antonelli to not take his maiden crown. Ferrari’s victory in two of the last four races with Mercedes when the silver arrows suffered with reliability, and there own upgrades have made them a bigger threat.
‘Monaco without the walls’ is the horrible cliché, Ferrari should shine this weekend and claiming its first pole of the year would be a terrific start to the weekend. This is where the omens are good for the Scuderia, as Hungary is where Hamilton and Leclerc both took their most recent poles – in 2023 and 2025 respectively. Hamilton has nine wins here.
Much of the build-up to this weekend has been focused on Aston Martin, after a horrid first half of the year; the Silverstone outfit being the slowest team on the grid and Spa was the worst of the lot with Aston qualifying two seconds behind newcomer Cadillac. That’s partly because Cadillac has out-developed Aston and was finishing races sooner.
It may be the eve of the summer break, but silly season is about to begin with contracts needing signing for 2027. It is unlikely anything of that magnitude will occur in 2026, but there are still quite a few open seats for 2027 and expect the rumours to start flooding in this weekend at Budapest.
Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton hold the cards; with fourteen championships between them, they are yet to sign new deals. Max Verstappen is the main one, with his Red Bull future being a hotly debated topic, but the four-time world champion is expected to remain with the Austrian outfit and once he formally confirms that, then the other dominoes should start to fall.
Hamilton is expected to re-sign a deal following his much stronger season with Ferrari, if its not already done, and we are waiting for an official announcement. The same is true with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli
There is also Haas, which is debating whether to keep the struggling Esteban Ocon alongside the impressive youngster Oliver Bearman or to look elsewhere – Rafael Camara and Leonardo Fornaroli being the two options to have emerged. But if Hamilton doesn’t re-sign, Haas are likely to lose Bearman to Ferrari.
Ferrari must “fight for the win”
Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari must “come and fight for the win” at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix while McLaren team principal Andrea Stella expects the Scuderia to be “extremely competitive”. Since the return to Europe, Mercedes have won four races and Ferrari the other two.
That has seen the battle for second place behind Kimi Antonelli between Hamilton and George Russell come down to five points going into the final race before the summer break. Hamilton, was on flying form last weekend in Belgium, even overturning the misfortune of not being able to pit under a Virtual Safety Car to beat Charles Leclerc on Sunday.
Ferrari being closer than expected at Spa should bode well for the Hungaroring, as it has lots of corners and that should play into Ferrari’s hands. Stella told Sky Sports, “I think in Hungary, the Netherlands we will see the Ferrari being back to probably being the fastest car we see in the corners there. Extremely competitive F1.”
Hamilton has a record eight wins at the Hungaroring but five-second time penalties at the last two races mean he has not challenged for victory since his triumph in Barcelona last month.
He said, “I’m hoping we can be [competitive]. I need to come correct this week and make sure I deliver the way I know I can deliver in Budapest. We have to come and fight for that win.”
Ferrari are the favourites this weekend as cornering and slow-speed corners are more important compared to the last two rounds, meaning the lack of energy deployment which were key in Silverstone. Coupled with his record here, he is seen as one of the biggest threats to Mercedes this weekend.
There were similar expectations about Ferrari heading into the Monaco Grand Prix in June, only for Antonelli to convert pole position into victory.
Leclerc said, “I think it’s very difficult to predict the level of performance of every team. I recall very well what the overall feeling was before Monaco, and we arrived in Monaco and were underperforming compared to what everybody thought we would, so I think we need to be cautious.”
However, since Monaco, Ferrari have brought upgrades to the car, which further improved their cornering performance. Nevertheless, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is also managing expectations.
He said, “I think everybody will bring upgrades and we don’t know the picture of the performance. Everybody is pushing. You have a lot of performance in the execution on tyre management, tyre preparation, set-up, and the layout of the track. I think if we do the same quality of job as this weekend, it will pay off, but it is not a given. It’s not a given for us and not a given for the others. Each weekend we are starting from scratch.”
But the Frenchman admitted on paper this weekend looked easier; however they weren’t shining in Monaco, meaning they need to continue to push and it would never be easy.
US-Iran War: More uncertainty and possible replacements
ESPN says it has learned that Malaysia could return to the calendar this season as uncertainty continues around rescheduling the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and whether Qatar and Abu Dhabi can go ahead because of the US-Israel war in Iran.
The latest speculation suggests Jeddah will not be rescheduled; Bahrain had been hoping to push its grand prix back to the weekend of 02 – 04 October 4, between races in Baku and Singapore. However, the last time, pre-COVID, Bahrain was postponed it was cancelled despite trying to reschedule the race.
Bahrain’s rescheduling has been given the date of this weekend, while Qatar and Abu Dhabi have been given the date of the end of September.
An escalation of hostilities between the United States and Iran in recent weeks has not only intensified the doubt over the end of the season, but has also made the idea of Bahrain holding an event this year increasingly unlikely. Bahrain was hit by Iranian missiles earlier this week.
Already in the mix as potential replacements is a second ‘European Grand Prix’ in Barcelona and/or returning a year earlier than planned, to Portimão at the start of December. Sepang has the strongest case. Not only is it popular with fans and drivers alike, it also makes a lot of sense from a logistical standpoint.
F1 is keen to wait as long as possible before deciding what to do about those two races, but the growing consensus in the paddock is that both races seem more likely to be cancelled.
Piastri concerned about Leclerc’s defensive driving
Oscar Piastri is concerned Charles Leclerc’s defence of position at the Belgian Grand Prix creates a dangerous precedent, saying the Ferrari driver should have at least been given a warning if not a penalty.
On lap eight of Sunday’s race in Spa, Piastri and Leclerc were fighting over third place when the McLaren driver tried to overtake the Ferrari around the outside on the entry to Les Combes. Leclerc was defending the position on the inside and squeezed Piastri to the outside of the circuit under braking, resulting in contact as the McLaren driver ran out of road.
McLaren believes that the damage cost Piastri two to three tenths a lap for the rest of the race. The stewards investigated the incident during the race but opted not to issue a penalty to Leclerc.
Piastri said, “From where I was sitting, I was on the white line and got squeezed. I think we were very lucky not to have a bigger crash because we touched wheels at the start of the braking zone, but I don’t really know where I was supposed to go.”
“I’m not saying it needed to be a penalty necessarily, but at least a black and white flag or something like that. Because if we think that that’s fine, it’s one thing touches like that, but even the incentive of knowing you can leave everyone with the absolute bare minimum space and get away with it, that’s not the nicest place to be.”
Leclerc went on to finish second in the race, and watched the incident in the cooldown room, he did so with a sharp intake of breath. The Ferrari driver reacted by saying, “This one was…” but before he could finish his sentence, Max Verstappen, who was sat next to him, suggested: “… Was calculated?”
In the press conference after the race, Leclerc appeared to admit he was lucky to get away with the incident. Saying “Lap 8 was too close. Luckily, it didn’t have any consequences for either my race or his race, so that’s good.”
The stewards concluded “(Leclerc) did not deliberately crowd (Piastri) off the edge of the track. (Leclerc) followed the racing line before the entry to (Les Combes) by moving slightly to the left to open up for (Les Combes) and side-to-side contact occurred between the two cars.”
Lawson “Wasn’t the same” after Red Bull demotion
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has spoken about how Liam Lawson “wasn’t the same” when he returned to Racing Bulls following his demotion from Red Bull, explaining that it took time for the New Zealander to regain his confidence.
After standing in for Daniel Ricciardo after he broke his wrist in 2023, he replaced the Australian for the final six rounds of the following season and was ultimately promoted to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull for 2025.
However, he suffered a dismal opening two rounds, a crash in Australia and qualifying last for both the Sprint and Grand Prix in China, leading to the rapid decision to send him back to Racing Bulls. Lawson admitted at the time that he was “surprised” by how soon the call had been made, and he ended up finishing fourteenth in the Drivers’ Championship, thirteen points adrift of his then-rookie teammate Isack Hadjar.
Speaking to Beyond The Grid how Lawson seemed when he arrived for his first race back at the sister team, Permane said: “He didn’t really say much about it to start with, honestly, his head was down and he won’t thank me for saying this, because I think at the time, he was, ‘no, everything’s fine’, but you could tell.”
“We obviously knew him from the year before; we could tell he certainly wasn’t the same guy, and I don’t want to say we rebuilt him because that’s a little bit dramatic, but we just supported and helped him where we could. He works incredibly hard, and he works incredibly well with his engineering team, and he did it.”
The Frenchman added the team were there to help him, and he made the turnaround by working hard on and off track, which resulted in really good performances. He says he told Lawson, “forget anything outside of this… there’s nothing that should be more important than this, don’t worry about this flight or that flight, or this hotel, or you want to go here… forget all that and just focus on this.”
Permane says that Lawson is laser-focused and he could see that in his driving, as well as working better and closer with his engineers, so he can get the best out of his car. Lawson has embraced his role as the more experienced driver and contributed to Racing Bulls’ tense midfield battle with Alpine, which has the teams enter the Hungarian Grand Prix level on 61 points.
Permane praised the way in which Lawson has hit the ground running this season, adding: “It’s something I’ve often said, people talk about driving style and ‘this driver has a particular style, or that driver has a particular style’. I think the very best drivers, they don’t have a style.”
“I think they just drive the car however it needs to be driven to go quickest, and I think you very much saw that with Max in the previous eras, with the ground effect, and you had to have a car with a massively stiff rear end to get the best out of it and other drivers couldn’t necessarily cope with that.”
