Aston Martin only scored one point at the Hungarian GP, with the AMR24’s latest upgrades failing to unlock significant lap time. The British outfit continues to fall behind, already in a notably worse position than at the beginning of 2024 – when Alonso regularly fought for the top six positions. Despite this obvious decline, Aston Martin tell a different story about their situation.
Upgrades to the AMR24 fall short
Aston Martin introduced a significant upgrade package in Budapest last weekend.
However, unlike when other teams introduce new components, news of upgrades from Aston rarely generate excitement.
Simply put, the team’s consistent failure to make meaningful improvements with upgrades has created a pessimistic attitude towards their updates.
This sceptical approach was validated by the AMR24’s poor performance, with Alonso and Stroll fighting with midfield teams like VCARB – rather than top teams.
Aston Martin’s pace still significantly dips from qualifying to race day, which is a fundamental issue.
Aston Martin defiant
That said, the picture painted by senior personnel at the Silverstone-based outfit is very different.
Engineering director Tom McCullough gave his breakdown on Aston’s latest package.
“It’s a relative game, everyone is developing. This [the upgrades] is quite a large amount of parts for us in the car,” es.motorsport.com quotes him as saying.
“But we have more to come as well, and we are only halfway through the year. So we have to keep developing.
“We’re in that tight battle at the moment. We want to close the gap to the four teams in front.
“And that can only be achieved by bringing more parts than them and elements that make a bigger difference in lap time.
“So that’s the goal. We’re on a good development path now, but it’s relative to everyone else.”
Regardless of how Aston Martin tries to spin the situation, their decline is undeniable.
Perhaps more concerningly, their road to recovery is increasingly unlikely – at least in this regulation cycle.
Unless the British team can quite dramatically turn the tide, they could spend the next eighteen months as an afterthought in the midfield scrap.
