Aston Martin finished nearly six seconds away from pole position in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying, with even a carefully timed tow from Charles Leclerc unable to disguise the scale of the AMR26’s performance deficit. The team was also around two seconds slower than Cadillac, exposing weaknesses in aerodynamic load, weight, straight-line efficiency and the Honda power unit on Formula 1’s most demanding circuit.
Spa-Francorchamps should represent Aston Martin’s final weekend with the current version of the car before the long-awaited B-spec AMR26 is scheduled to arrive at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The substantial package is expected to revise the car’s aerodynamic concept and introduce a new chassis to reduce weight, although Aston Martin is reportedly still racing against time to manufacture enough components for both cars.
Aston Martin counts down to its B-spec AMR26
Aston Martin is counting the days until the heavily revised car is due to appear in Budapest. The project has become a genuine race against time because even the team cannot yet be certain that it will have sufficient parts to equip both cars, with limited spare components also a possibility.
Before focusing on Hungary, however, Aston Martin must first survive what was always expected to be its most difficult examination. Fernando Alonso had already warned that Aston Martin faced another painful weekend at Spa, and qualifying confirmed the severity of the challenge.
Among the Grands Prix contested so far, Belgium is undoubtedly the circuit that exposes the AMR26 most severely. Its long full-throttle sections highlight the limitations of the Honda power unit, while the high-speed corners simultaneously demand substantial downforce and an exceptionally stable rear end. These are precisely the areas in which Aston Martin’s current car is weakest.
Why Aston Martin delayed its smaller upgrades
There is also a third factor behind Aston Martin’s difficult position. While rival teams continued introducing developments, the Silverstone-based operation chose to wait, having effectively limited its upgrades since the start of the season.
The strategy was to concentrate its resources on one major package capable of delivering a meaningful performance step, particularly given the limitations of the Honda power unit. A gain of only a few tenths would not have transformed Aston Martin’s competitive position, so the team instead decided to reconsider the car as a whole.
That decision led to the creation of the long-awaited B-spec car. The programme is expected to include a new chassis designed to remove weight from a car that remains significantly above the minimum limit. Excess weight is an issue at every circuit, but Spa exposes it in an especially clear and unforgiving way.
AMR26 loses seconds through Spa’s second sector
In the second sector, where high aerodynamic load is essential, Aston Martin is not losing tenths of a second to its rivals but entire seconds. The deficit results from several interacting factors, including insufficient downforce, excess weight and a substantial lack of usable energy from the Honda power unit.
To maximise straight-line speed, teams must compromise energy recovery through parts of the middle sector. According to the source, the FIA designated several sections in which the MGU-K can be switched off to conserve electrical energy. The MGU-K deployment challenge at Spa has therefore become a decisive performance factor across the grid.
However, when a car already begins with an energy and power deficit, the differences become even larger whenever the electric motor is no longer assisting the internal combustion engine. Aston Martin’s problems are compounded by the fact that the AMR26 also exits corners more slowly than its competitors.
That means the car not only loses time through the corner itself but also requires longer to accelerate towards the speed reached by rival cars, ultimately recording significantly lower maximum speeds. This helps explain why the second sector proved so difficult for Aston Martin beyond its lack of pure aerodynamic load.
The AMR26 is penalised through the corners by its aerodynamics and weight, after which the Honda power unit deficit magnifies the loss throughout the following acceleration phase.
Aston Martin one second slower than Cadillac in sector two
For comparison, Aston Martin lost approximately three seconds to the pole time and most of the leading teams in the second sector alone. More strikingly, it was also one second slower than Cadillac through that same section of the lap.
Across the rest of the circuit, Aston Martin lost time where its difficulties were more predictable: on the long straights, where the shortcomings of the Honda power unit became increasingly apparent. Honda is expected to introduce an updated specification at Zandvoort after the summer break, including a significant intervention involving the combustion process of the internal combustion engine.
Aston Martin is already surrendering considerable horsepower to its rivals, while the AMR26 is not particularly aerodynamically efficient despite generating relatively little downforce. The result was a deficit of almost 20 kilometres per hour to Mercedes around Blanchimont.
The gap became smaller when the rear wing opened, but it remained significant. Mercedes itself arrived at Spa with developments intended to improve performance on the straights, including a revised W17 front wing focused on efficiency.
Overall, Aston Martin lost more than a second on each major full-throttle section in both the first and third sectors. The contrast with the solutions introduced elsewhere on the grid was also evident among the latest Belgian GP technical developments.
Fernando Alonso uses Charles Leclerc’s tow at Kemmel
Fernando Alonso was particularly alert during his final qualifying attempt, positioning the Aston Martin behind Charles Leclerc to benefit from the Ferrari’s slipstream along the Kemmel Straight. Charles Leclerc eventually pulled away despite providing the initial tow, but the tactic showed how Aston Martin was searching for every possible advantage.
It also confirmed that, despite the team’s well-documented difficulties, its drivers and engineers continue trying to maximise everything available on the circuit.
“As always, it has been like this for the last ten Grands Prix: we know exactly where we are, but we still don’t want to give up,” Fernando Alonso explained. “We go into qualifying, fit three sets of tyres, push on all three laps and try to maximise every detail.”
Fernando Alonso’s decision to use Charles Leclerc as a tow was a clear example of that determination. With raw performance unavailable, Aston Martin had to search for lap time through positioning, timing and execution.
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin is still learning
“We are learning while we are doing it,” Fernando Alonso continued. “As I said, I think that since Austria we have become consistent in terms of deployment and aspects that are normal for everyone else. For our team, it took five or six Grands Prix to get everything in the right place. Now I think we are more prepared, hoping that the car becomes faster.”
The nature of the Hungaroring should make the Honda power unit’s weaknesses less visible than they were at Spa. Budapest contains fewer prolonged full-throttle sections and places greater emphasis on cornering performance, although Aston Martin will still need the revised AMR26 to deliver the aerodynamic improvement promised by the project.
The team has accumulated important information away from the spotlight. Even the internal battle during Aston Martin’s home Grand Prix at Silverstone proved useful in some respects, helping its engineers understand how the Honda power unit behaves when the cars are running in the middle of a close fight.
Aston Martin hopes that information will become more valuable once the B-spec car arrives in Hungary and the updated Honda engine follows at Zandvoort. For now, however, one final race of suffering remains at Spa, almost as though reaching the chequered flag will allow the team to release a considerable burden — both figuratively and, once the lighter chassis arrives, literally.
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