Mike Krack discussed Aston Martin’s latest upgrade package after it delivered encouraging early signs at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP weekend.
The team returned to a more competitive position after a torrid start to the year. Fernando Alonso reached Q2, while both drivers finished ahead of Franco Colapinto in the Alpine. Stroll was 13th, with Alonso in 14th. This happened as it introduced its latest development package at the Hungaroring.
Following the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP, Aston Martin’s Trackside Officer Mike Krack said the team’s latest upgrade package had delivered encouraging early signs. However, he emphasised that additional track time would be required before Aston Martin could accurately evaluate its overall performance.
Krack discusses Aston Martin’s latest upgrades after the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP
Aston Martin arrived in Hungary hoping its latest upgrades would move the team back into the midfield fight. Although the early indicators were encouraging, Krack stressed that the objective was simply to become more competitive again. He noted that this was the focus, rather than chase a particular finishing position.
“I think we came here and we said the main objective is to go back racing. I think we achieved that. Upgrade package works. And now we need to bring the next steps.”
When asked how much performance the package had unlocked, Krack explained that it was still too early to draw firm conclusions. Lance Stroll’s technical issue in FP1 and subsequent absence from FP2 reduced Aston Martin’s track time, limiting the team’s opportunity to optimise and fully evaluate the new components over the race weekend.
Nonetheless, the updated AMR26 moved them from backmarkers by a distance into the second half of the midfield.
“That’s difficult to say. We will know in the next events if we find more performance or not. We lost a bit of time this weekend with Lance after the issue in FP1, so he didn’t drive in FP2. So for sure we missed a bit of time to optimise everything. But we take it from there and we’ll see what we can unlock in the next races,” he said.
Krack says limited running prevented a full upgrade assessment
Stroll’s technical issue during Friday practice meant Aston Martin completed considerably fewer laps than planned while evaluating both the revised chassis and the latest aerodynamic package. As a result, Krack believes the team has only gathered an initial understanding of the upgrade. He said it is not the complete picture yet.
“As I said, we have not driven much so far, so everything was new. We had issues, so we’re trying to have a good look at the data. And then we’ll see if we can get out more of the package,” Krack explained.
The data gathered during the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP will now form the basis of Aston Martin’s analysis ahead of the next rounds. Therefore, the team expects to better understand the package’s operating window.
Krack remains realistic despite Aston Martin’s stronger showing
Although Aston Martin reached Q2 and finished ahead of one Alpine, as well as both Haas and Williams car Krack rejected the suggestion that the result exceeded the team’s expectations.
Instead, he explained that Aston Martin measures progress through lap time gains and internal performance targets. This is rather than finishing positions.
“No. The expectation was a lap time improvement or a percentage improvement. And you never know what the competition brings. So you cannot say you’ll be in front of this one or behind this one. In these situations you have to be factual and stick with the numbers. And then comes the competitivity, which is obviously influenced by a lot of things. At the end of the day, you have to say, ‘OK, we got what we expected.’ But then where you end, if you remember on Thursday I said where we will end, we don’t know. The midfield is so close that you cannot really say before,” he said.
Krack added that the competitive nature of Formula 1’s midfield makes it difficult to predict where teams will ultimately finish. Consequently, this reinforces why Aston Martin focuses on achieving measurable improvements rather than comparing itself directly with its rivals.
Aston Martin’s race pace matched internal expectations
Asked whether Aston Martin’s race pace had exceeded expectations, Krack dismissed comparisons with Alpine. He also reiterated that Sunday’s performance was consistent with the team’s own pre-race projections.
“Yeah, as I said, forget the Alpine. The race pace we saw or the pace we saw is what we expected,” Krack said.
His assessment suggested Aston Martin’s latest package is performing broadly in line with simulation data. Nevertheless, the team believes there is still additional performance to unlock as it gains more experience with the upgrades.
Krack analyses 2026 F1 Hungarian GP: Aston Martin still assessing full upgrade potential
While the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP provided encouraging early signs for Aston Martin, Krack believes it is still too early to judge the success of the latest upgrade package. Limited running prevented the engineers from fully optimising the car across the weekend. As a result, there is further performance to be extracted over the coming races.
With additional data expected from the next rounds, Aston Martin will continue refining the package. The team looks to strengthen its position in Formula 1’s tightly contested midfield, with a Honda upgrade to come at Zandvoort.
