Fernando Alonso has detailed what he has labelled as “debates” with Aston Martin Formula 1 Team Principal Adrian Newey over the direction of the AMR26.
Aston Martin have endured a challenging first half of 2026, with a car that can be as far as five seconds off the pace of frontrunners Mercedes.
The lack of pace cannot be attributed to one area, with both the AMR26 itself and Honda’s first official works power unit since 2021 holding the team back.
Hungary marks a potential turning point, as 16 upgrades will debut on the car, fuelling hopes of a step forward.
Newey made a startling revelation at the British Grand Prix to media, including Motorsport Week, confirming that “perhaps we’ve been guilty of not spending enough time with Fernando and Lance, Jak [Crawford, reserve driver] here, kind of going through exactly what we are trying to achieve with the upgrade package.”
Alonso expanded on this in Hungary, confirming that “different opinions” were shared by him and Newey.
“I think to Adrian’s comments, that it is more in the past than this year,” he said.
“In the past it is true that sometimes we had different opinions on race weekends in terms of feeling weaknesses of the car when we were racing with others, what we felt behind the wheel, and sometimes, when you go back to the factory, you see the data, and you discover things misbehaving on the aero that were pointing the direction of the car into two different ways.
“Maybe the winner was the data in those debates, but Adrian is the type of designer that listening to both the data for sure, but also what the driver feels. Formula 1 is very complex and very dynamic.”
Fernando Alonso confirms data analysis findings
Alonso then detailed the methodology he and Newey employ to analyse data vs driver feeling, confirming a happy balance between the two.
“It changes every lap, and you never have the same fuel load, tyres or wind conditions, or if you are following a car or are alone on track, there are many different things that can affect the balance – and that is why data is not 100 percent the truth.”
“You need to combine things, and Adrian has the best experience in the world to design and develop a car, and we are on a good path.
“We are here to win races and fight for championships. We didn’t start the season that way, because we are in the process of understanding these regulations and development, and for the first 10 races, all the teams opted for a more conventional strategy to bring two or three tenths every two or three races, and ended with one to one and a half seconds by race 10.
“We didn’t do that, so fell behind, and now we will try to catch all in one.”
Alonso’s insight into Aston Martin’s recovery indicates that the team is looking at all areas of its operations as it chases lap time. The hard work is only just beginning.
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