Tag: Aston Martin F1

Aston Martin Warns of Tougher Formula 1 Races Ahead

Mike Krack says Fernando Alonso’s ninth-place finish at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix was helped by Zandvoort’s track characteristics, while Aston Martin continues to unlock the full potential of its upgraded AMR26.

After qualifying 18th, Alonso used an opportunistic one-stop strategy to claim an unexpected ninth place, finishing ahead of a frustrated Pierre Gasly.

Zandvoort suited Aston Martin’s cornering performance

Most drivers made two pit stops, but Aston Martin needed to adopt an out-of-sync strategy to benefit from the AMR26’s speed through the corners. The Honda-powered car recovered the time it lost on the straights by performing strongly in the circuit’s slower sections.

Asked whether Aston Martin’s race pace was stronger than its qualifying pace, the team’s chief trackside officer agreed, while warning that less favourable circuits such as Monza and Baku were next on the calendar. Both venues feature some of Formula 1’s longest straights.

“Since Budapest we know that we’re a bit stronger in the race,” Krack said. “I think Fernando said today our result will depend more or less on how long the straights are.

“So these were now two races where the straights were a bit on the short side. So we will have tougher races to come, but I think that this is part of the game. You have races where you’re strong, and you have races where you’re less strong. So it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes.”

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer of Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

Aston Martin still learning how to use its upgrades

Aston Martin recorded the second-lowest straight-line speed during qualifying at Zandvoort, reaching 309.5km/h. That was significantly slower than Alpine’s 331.7km/h and only marginally faster than Cadillac’s 309.4km/h.

The deficit came despite the arrival of Honda’s long-awaited power unit upgrade, which was expected to deliver a substantial performance improvement after the car suffered severe problems earlier in the season. However, the team has made visible progress with the chassis, as demonstrated again in the Netherlands.

“We get to know this package more and more,” Krack said. “With the large package that we introduced in Budapest, it will take some sessions to learn how to deal with it and to learn how to set it up. And the same goes actually also for the introduction of the power unit now.

“We need to learn how to use it, we need to learn how to optimise it, and I think it’s going to take us a couple of events, but it was a good step forward.

Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll both made positive comments over the team radio during the weekend. Krack said those remarks reflected Aston Martin’s growing understanding of its latest package, while acknowledging that the team could not extract its maximum performance in every session.

“It goes along with what I said in terms of trying to understand the package. If you have changes at this large scale, with the intensity of the sessions, it’s always difficult to get the maximum out of it all the time. And the more sessions we get, the more we will get it under control.

“But there will always be sessions where you will have a bit more difficulties, some others where it will be easier, and we had quite a good configuration this weekend.”

08/28/2026
Sergio Perez Admits Disappointment With Cadillac’s First F1 Season

Sergio Perez says Cadillac’s recent development stall has made the past few Formula 1 races “a disappointment”, but believes the team can still find another second of performance in 2026.

Cadillac made significant progress during the opening part of the season, pulling clear of struggling Aston Martin and regularly beating the Silverstone-based team to avoid the back of the grid and the wooden spoon.

That progress has slowed in recent races. Aston Martin’s own upgrades, including aerodynamic developments introduced in Hungary and the Netherlands, combined with Honda’s efforts to improve power, have delivered a notable increase in lap time and left Cadillac behind.

Perez believes Cadillac has more potential. Speaking on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, he said a new team should be improving constantly, but acknowledged that Cadillac’s recent form had flatlined.

“On everything, I think the last few races have been a disappointment. There’s a lot of disappointment because we haven’t been developing. We haven’t been improving,” Perez said.

“Us being a new team, this is what we should be doing, like every time. So I felt like there was a bit of a stalling in the last few races.

“And that’s why we had to review on things, how we were doing everything. Obviously, being a new team, there’s a lot of things that we are constantly learning.”

Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing. Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Perez measured Cadillac’s shortfall in lap-time terms, suggesting the team has found roughly one second of performance during the opening half of the year, rather than the two seconds it had expected.

Even so, he believes Cadillac is “not that far” from the established teams. Finding another second could transform the team’s competitiveness and allow it to put pressure on Williams, Haas and Aston Martin.

“I don’t think we have improved as much as we hoped for,” Perez added. “[We have found] I don’t know, a second? But probably we were looking for two seconds.

“The most important is we understand and we look at our processes, why it hasn’t come, that second? Why we haven’t improved in all those different areas?

“Because it’s not only one thing, being a new team, there’s a lot of things that are in there. And I can see them, you know. If we improve our load, our ride, a lot of things, all of a sudden, we are not that far.

“We are at the back, but half a second, one second will change our life completely at this stage, you know? And I feel like for us being a new team, it’s in there. It’s possible.”

08/27/2026
Williams Collapses in F1 Pecking Order: ‘Aston is a different league right now’

Williams Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz says the team is currently faster only than Cadillac, while team-mate Alexander Albon has criticised the excessive number of blue flags the team faced during the Dutch Grand Prix.

Williams made a steady start to F1’s new era, scoring 11 points in the opening six rounds and sitting eighth in the constructors’ championship after the Monaco Grand Prix. However, Sainz finished only 12th at the following race in Barcelona, and neither Williams driver has since managed a result better than 15th. The team has also struggled to progress beyond Q1 in qualifying.

At Zandvoort, Albon narrowly reached Q2 in both qualifying sessions, while both Aston Martin cars were eliminated early. Fernando Alonso then delivered an impressive one-stop strategy to finish ninth in Sunday’s race, as Albon and Sainz slipped towards the back of the field.

“We are pretty much where we expected, which is towards the back,” Williams’ Spaniard lamented. “We are only quicker than Cadillac at the moment. You saw the Astons in race pace, they are a different league right now. So we couldn’t fight them. We couldn’t fight anyone, really.”

“You can’t imagine in the middle of the race how many blue flags you get,” Albon added. “I literally mean that every other lap is a blue flag.

“When we pit too early on that first stint, we come out behind a group of midfield cars that we were racing. They all boxed to miss all the blue flags. But because of us pitting early, we had no choice but to take the blue flags. It’s like you get dirtier every lap to cars that you’re not even trying to race, you’re in the marbles. The ones that did box in front of you to miss the blue flags, they’ve now got new tyres, and they’re catching up to three or four seconds a lap because of the blue flags. So, within five laps, the cars that just pitted in front of you are already behind you.”

Williams struggles with blue-flag traffic

Albon made those comments before reviewing the race and its data. He was primarily referring to Gabriel Bortoleto, who made his second of three pit stops on lap 34 while running directly behind the Anglo-Thai driver and approaching the point at which the leaders would lap him.

The Audi driver caught Albon just eight laps later, leaving the Williams driver repeatedly dealing with blue flags and traffic from cars he was not directly racing.

Neither Williams driver expects the team to challenge for points at the upcoming races in Monza and Baku, despite both circuits being considered potentially suitable for the Mercedes-powered FW48.

“If you look at the last five races, this is where we’ve been for the last five races. It is where we are,” said Sainz, who scored a podium finish in Azerbaijan last year.

“We’ve had a very tough weekend on my side with some consistency of the parts, which haven’t allowed me to set up the car correctly for the race. We have to learn from it. There will be some interesting data points to go through as a team with the struggles that I’ve had. We will be able to, for sure, conclude on them and probably help us to understand better in the future.”

Asked specifically about Monza, Albon added: “It’s always a good track for us. Low [downforce], not much combined cornering, so that tends to suit our car. We’ve got the best power unit on the grid, so it should help us. But I’m not expecting points.”

Williams sits ninth in the constructors’ standings with 11 points. Audi is ahead on 16 points, while Aston Martin is behind on three.

08/27/2026