Aston Martin team boss Adrian Newey faced the media an hour after his much anticipated B-spec car debuted at the Hungaroring on Friday.

Lance Stroll suffered a mechanical failure (a suspected suspension failure according to the team) less than 40 minutes into AMR26’s debut in FP1, although team-mate Fernando Alonso did show some respectable pace in the sister car.

The team is still working to understand the unexpected failure on Stroll’s car, but it wasn’t related to the upgrade according to Newey.

“So the area involved was actually not being changed,” Newey said.

“We are short on spares because the cladding and so forth is different. So there are some minor changes in that area, but in that sense it's very unexpected.

“Until we have an understanding it's difficult to comment further.”

Returning Honda oscillations are a concern

Alonso was reminded over the team radio to stay away from the kerbs while on his push laps in practice, but this was all about ensuring sufficient aero data acquisition, rather than an issue with the upgrade.

“Staying away from the kerbs, that's purely because we are acquiring aero data and when you're trying to acquire aero data, you don't want the disruption of kerbs thrown in, the inconsistency that corrupts the data,” Newey said when The Race asked him about the messages.

Oscillations were visible on both drivers’ onboard cameras during FP1, which suggested the return of the Honda engine-related vibrations that the team struggled with at the start of the year.

When The Race put that to him, Newey said: “The oscillations, yes, that's really a question for Honda. They can see it on the data and they are working on the solution.”

There’s more to come…

Hungary was always going to be part one of the Aston Martin chassis overhaul with a second part planned for arrival after the summer break at Zandvoort, coinciding with Honda’s sole engine upgrade.

But Newey revealed a third phase of the chassis upgrade will arrive at either Monza, or Baku in September.

“The provisional results are promising,” Newey said. “It's only part of the package so we'll have some more steps in Zandvoort and then further steps in Monza/Baku.

“So it's the first part of our planned upgrade, and [we are] very short on parts so we've been careful with it and trying to learn all about it.”

He added: “We're clearly on a big catch-up game, so is it going to make us the quickest car? Unfortunately, not. Does it represent a good step forward from where we were? Yes, I believe it does.”

Respectability is the target after 'nightmare' start

Newey was asked whether the debut of Aston Martin’s B-spec car was the end of a nightmare, and the first day of a dream.

“Hopefully, yes, these first races have been a complete nightmare, you're absolutely right,” Newey admitted.

“Hopefully, we can get at least to a point of respectability now - I think that is the immediate goal - and then from there we can try to keep moving forwards.”

The team has been an average of 4.670% off the pace prior to Hungary, with the next-best team, brand-new outfit Cadillac, 3.993% adrift.

In FP1, Alonso’s best time put him 3.123% off the pace, but the first part of the upgrade package will be far from optimised yet. Judged on Alonso’s best sectors, Aston Martin’s best first sector was slowest of all teams, but its second and third sectors were seventh best.

This upgrade's performance is a key part of Aston Martin convincing Alonso to remain aboard for 2027.

“Fernando is an amazing driver, brings a huge amount to the team, both in his feedback and his ability,” Newey said.

“So for us it's of course it's important, but I'm pretty confident that Fernando is enjoying his time with us and that we will continue with our relationship.”