Aston Martin arrives in Hungary with the most consequential upgrade of its season, and possibly of Fernando Alonso's career. The team's long-delayed B-spec car, the first major package of a wretched 2026, will decide little on its own, but the people around it can't stop talking about what rides on it.
The context is grim. After the opening rounds Aston Martin sits 10th with a single point, scored by Alonso in Monaco, and has slipped behind newcomer Cadillac as the grid's slowest team. The 2026 car is overweight and underdeveloped, saddled with an uncompetitive Honda power unit in the team's first year designed under Adrian Newey.
Newey is betting the Hungary package changes the picture, and keeps his star driver. Speaking before the weekend, he said he hopes a strong upgrade will convince Alonso to stay for 2027, wanting the Spaniard "in the cockpit for another season." Autosport's Filip Cleeren reported that Newey sees the revamped car as the argument that persuades Alonso the project is worth another year.
Alonso isn't playing along. The 44-year-old, who turns 45 during the summer break that follows this race, denied that his decision hangs on Friday's parts. "It will not only be how fast we are in Hungary, there are more things on the table," Alonso told Formula1.com. He also pointed past the chassis: "It's not only the chassis - we also need to see some progress on the engine side as well that we plan for in the next few races." He has said he will settle his future over the shutdown.
The skeptics are louder still. On the Red Flags podcast, former Haas boss Guenther Steiner questioned whether the upgrade can move Aston Martin anywhere near the front, reckoning it would take a miracle just to reach Williams. His verdict on the current car was blunt: "Aston Martin makes even Cadillac look good, and Cadillac was down three laps at the end of a race, but it made Cadillac look good." Steiner went further, warning that Newey or technical director Enrico Cardile could be in Lawrence Stroll's firing line if results don't turn by year's end.
GPblog's Kieran Lynch framed the weekend as a genuine fork. If the B-spec fails, he argued, Aston Martin may abandon 2026 development entirely under the cost cap and pivot to next year, Alonso's patience could finally run out, with a fourth stint at Alpine under Flavio Briatore floated as an exit, and the questions about how quickly Newey can drag the team forward only grow.
So three camps head into the same Friday: Newey, who needs the upgrade to work and to keep Alonso; Alonso, who won't be pinned to it and wants engine progress before he commits; and Steiner, who thinks the whole exercise is chasing a miracle. The stopwatch settles the first argument. The other two run all summer.
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*Originally published on [NewsFormula.one](https://newsformula.one/article/newey-says-hungary-upgrade-can-keep-alonso-alonso-isnt-sold). Visit for full coverage.*