(Motorsport-Total.com) – Aston Martin is counting the days until the long-awaited arrival of its B-version next week in Hungary. But before heading to Budapest, the struggling team from Silverstone must get through its toughest weekend yet on the high-speed circuit of Spa-Francorchamps.
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Since from day one both the car and the Honda power unit were far off the pace, both parties have decided to save their upgrades until they are significant enough to bring about a turnaround. It made no sense to spend resources on a smaller package that would still leave the AMR26 as the slowest team on the grid.
Friday practice in Hungary will show whether there is light at the end of a very long tunnel for Aston Martin in 2026 when the team introduces a car that is basically a B-version and full of aerodynamic upgrades developed over the past months.
But before the team can use this performance boost – which they hope will change the course of the season or at least set a solid direction for 2027 – Aston must survive another weekend of hopeless pain on the track that could prove to be the worst on the entire calendar.
With its fast corners, long straights, and few opportunities for energy recovery, there is no hiding place for either Aston or Honda, so their respective weaknesses are mercilessly exposed.
More than five seconds behind
Friday practice painted a particularly painful picture: the lap of the faster Aston driver Lance Stroll (1:51.131 minutes) was over five seconds behind that of the leader Kimi Antonelli. This effectively placed the team halfway between the Formula 1 benchmark (1:45.944 minutes) and the fastest lap in Formula 2 qualifying (1:56.306 minutes).
Aston Martin’s senior track engineer, Mike Krack, says the team expected Spa to be this bad. “I think it is within expectations,” he said after Friday practice. “We knew this track would probably be the hardest of all.”
“We have to be realistic. You know we are quite far away. Positions are only gained through retirements, but there is nothing to fight for in terms of results. I think it would be quite naive to believe you can achieve something like that. We are too far away for that,” said Krack.
“We won’t get demotivated”
However, he emphasizes that everything the team is doing now to optimize operations at the track will serve them well once they have a more competitive package – even if it seems futile with the car currently available to them.
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“We won’t get demotivated by this,” he says. “We have to do our homework and wait for the time when we have a faster car.”
“Our people have done a good job trying to optimize it as much as possible. These are small steps that pay off more in terms of position when you have a faster car than now. But as I said, you still have to be fully there for the day when we have a faster car,” said the Aston Martin official.
“We still have two cars. We try our best, try to implement it well, and make the right decisions.”
Krack praises work on all sides
Even before the weekend, Krack praised his team and engine partner Honda for dealing with the adversities this year. The people there worked just as hard – if not harder – than any other team on the grid.
“A big compliment to the whole team, especially the people at the track, for how they handled it, including HRC,” he said. “We have gone through a tough time. We sat down and talked about it. Because everyone has good days, everyone has bad days.”
“That’s why we have to help each other when such situations arise. And I think from a human and interpersonal perspective, we have handled it very well.”
The hope remains that things will get better after Belgium. But everything comes together again there, as both drivers will also receive grid penalties in Spa: Lance Stroll must drop ten places due to a new MGU-K, Fernando Alonso will be sent to the back of the field for exceeding three components – if he is not already there.
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