Franco Colapinto has warned that Aston Martin has become “a lot quicker” than Alpine in corners, as the Silverstone-based team recovers from a tricky start in Formula 1’s new era.
As F1 switched to new machinery featuring greater emphasis on energy management with a 53/47 split between combustion and electrical power, Aston Martin has struggled, with an overhauled Honda F1 squad designing an underpowered and unreliable power unit.
But the engine wasn’t the only source of hardship for Aston, as shown by the Adrian Newey-designed AMR26’s performance in Monaco – where, despite serendipitously scoring a point on Sunday, the team qualified 21st and 22nd, well off the pace of any rivals.
Aston long refrained from bringing updates this year, focusing on a comprehensive upgrade package that finally was introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time in 2026 in a non-sprint qualifying session; he and team-mate Lance Stroll finished 14th and 13th respectively in the race – just 10 seconds shy of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and comfortably ahead of Colapinto.
“They look really strong in the corners,” Colapinto pointed out after spending most of the race chasing the green cars. “On the straights they are really slow and they are losing a lot of lap time, but in the corners they are definitely a lot quicker than us.
“It shows that we can make a big step, and hopefully with our upgrades in Zandvoort comes a big step.”
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
But Zandvoort is also where Honda will introduce a substantial power unit upgrade, which is expected to be another game changer for Aston Martin – particularly in terms of top speed.
Regardless, Colapinto was quite dissatisfied with his race at the Hungaroring, where he ended up 15th under the chequered flag, from 13th on the grid.
“Not very happy, of course,” the Argentine said. “I think it was a really tricky afternoon. In general, we lacked a lot of pace.
“After the first few laps, I started to really struggle with the car, and after that, it never really recovered; even with the new tyres, we were still really far off the pace and really slow.
“I think we need to understand why. Maybe, I don’t know, some damage, something happened, because it was quite odd, the balance. The kind of grip I had, it was very, very poor, so I think we need to go through it and understand a bit.”
