Ahead of the 2026 F1 Austrian GP, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll discussed the team’s upcoming upgrade plans as they continue to struggle for pace against the rest of the field. The start of the 2026 F1 season has proved extremely difficult for Aston Martin and Honda, as they struggle to get to grips with the new regulations. Since the opening round in Melbourne, Stroll has retired from four of the seven races so far.
Speaking in a print media session at the track on Thursday, when asked about the team’s upcoming upgrade plans, Stroll explained: “I think when everybody sat down and we knew where we were in Bahrain and when we all got together as a group and said what’s the best way of going forward and what’s the smartest moves, I think it was to wait for the engine and chassis to come together in Hungary, Zandvoort, whenever that will be.”
Nearly 4.5 seconds adrift of pole-sitter George Russell in Barcelona, the Canadian driver said the team’s extreme lack of pace demands a major upgrade package, rather than what he described as “small incremental upgrades”.
“Right now we’re far off the pace, so we need big steps to catch up not small incremental upgrades, I don’t think will make much of a difference because we’re 4 seconds off the lead cars, so we need the big package whenever that will come,” Stroll said.
Stroll: “Just trying to get the most out of the car that I’m driving”
Since the start of the season, Aston Martin’s struggles with vibration issues and the Honda power unit have been a major factor in their difficulties. However, the team earned their first point of the season in Monaco, with Fernando Alonso finishing P10.
While results have not come easily and the team has endured a tough run of races, Stroll believes that learning each weekend in different conditions remains an important experience for both himself and Aston Martin.
“Every weekend has its own challenges, temperatures, track, nature of the track and all that, so I’m learning every weekend just adapting to the conditions and, like I said before, just trying to get the most out of the car that I’m driving.”
While he hopes to see significant improvements once the new upgrade package arrives, he noted that only time will tell.
“I don’t know, I think it should, hopefully we can figure it out pretty quickly, and it should bring immediate performance to the car, and we’ll see.”, he said. “Why should it be so complex to understand it over multiple races, maybe a session or two but we should hopefully see big improvements quickly but time will tell, we don’t have all the answers to that.”
