Colapinto Highlights Aston Martin’s Cornering Gains After Upgrade

Franco Colapinto cautioned that Aston Martin has become significantly faster than Alpine in cornering, as the Silverstone team works to overcome a difficult start in the new Formula 1 era.

With the 2026 regulations shifting toward a 53/47 split favoring electrical power, Aston Martin has struggled; an overhauled Honda power unit proved underpowered and unreliable.

Problems extended beyond the engine, evident in the Adrian Newey‑designed AMR26’s Monaco outing. Despite fortuitously picking up a point on Sunday, the team qualified 21st and 22nd, well off the pace.

After holding back updates early in the season, Aston Martin finally unveiled a comprehensive upgrade package at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time in 2026 during a non‑sprint qualifying, and he alongside teammate Lance Stroll finished 14th and 13th respectively—just ten seconds behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and comfortably ahead of Colapinto.

“They look really strong in the corners,” Colapinto noted after spending much of the race behind the green cars. “On the straights they are really slow and they are losing a lot of lap time, but in the corners they are definitely a lot quicker than us.”

“It shows we can make a big step, and hopefully the upgrades arriving at Zandvoort will deliver a similar improvement.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Zandvoort will also see Honda introduce a substantial power‑unit upgrade, expected to be another game‑changer for Aston Martin—especially for top‑speed performance.

Regardless, Colapinto expressed disappointment with his Hungarian Grand Prix result, finishing 15th after starting from 13th on the grid.

“Not very happy, of course,” the Argentine said. “I think it was a really tricky afternoon. Overall we lacked pace.”

“After the first few laps I began to struggle with the car, and it never recovered; even on fresh tyres we remained far off the pace and slow.”

“I need to understand what went wrong. Perhaps there was some damage or an issue, because the balance felt odd and the grip was extremely poor. We’ll have to investigate.”

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