Racing
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Fernando Alonso said Aston Martin chose as early as Australia to hold back on small, race-by-race updates and wait for one major package later in the season, even as he questioned how rival teams keep bringing new parts under Formula 1’s cost cap.
Speaking in Austria to PlanetF1.com and other media, the Aston Martin driver said he had not originally backed the approach. “I didn’t agree, but apparently there is no money to bring upgrades, unlimited upgrades, like the other teams do,” Alonso said. He added that it was “surprising to see the FIA page on Friday every race,” before joking that rivals might have a “money machine” on the “minus one [floor] in the factory.”
His frustration comes as Aston Martin watches the rest of the field continue to develop while its own car remains largely unchanged. Alonso pointed to Red Bull introducing a seven-part package in Austria, Cadillac bringing 10 performance-focused updates, and Ferrari already making a major step in Barcelona.
Alonso said Aston Martin’s delay was rooted in a decision taken in Australia, when the team accepted it needed to spend its development budget more carefully. He said the first three or four races were used to understand the car’s weaknesses and limitations, begin testing solutions in the wind tunnel, and study which ideas from rival cars were actually working. Only after that process, he said, could the team start “programming the upgraded package,” and “obviously it takes time.”
He also made clear that Aston Martin’s poor early form shaped that thinking. After what he described as a bad first test in Bahrain, Alonso said the team arrived in Australia still uncertain about the scale of its problems, calling it “the uncomfortable truth that we found in Australia.”
Despite his barbs about rivals’ upgrade rate, Alonso said Aston Martin’s strategy remains the right one in competitive terms. “The decision was made, and I think it’s the right decision,” he said. “For us, it doesn’t change to bring three or four tenths in a couple of grands prix, and still be fighting at the back. We need something bigger than that.”
That choice has left Aston Martin exposed in the short term. The team has scored only one point so far in 2026, Alonso’s P10 in Monaco, and has been running near the back while others move forward.
Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack said the team has had to stick with Adrian Newey’s development direction once that call was made. Krack said Aston Martin has seen others “moving on,” but added that “if you take as a team a decision like this, you have to commit to it,” with the new package to arrive only “as soon as it is ready.”