Nine-podium F1 team looking to ‘limit’ the negative effects of 2024 car at Hungarian GP

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Aston Martin has endured a tough 2024 Formula 1 season so far having failed to deliver on their promise from last year.

Last year, Aston Martin achieved six podiums with Fernando Alonso and came close to winning races at the halfway point, whereas now they have yet to achieve any and are currently over 300 points off Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship.

Alonso was left disappointed after the Spanish GP when they finished outside the points, while Martin Brundle said he appeared even more frustrated with their situation after the Austrian GP Sprint. Although things did improve at the final race of the triple-header at Silverstone, when both cars finished in the points.

Pressure has been put on technical director Dan Fallows by billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll to improve the team’s form and ensure that development is heading in the right direction for the second half of the season.

The team is set to bring more upgrades to the Hungarian Grand Prix for the AMR24 to try and understand where they went wrong, according to journalist Antonio Lobato on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Aston Martin want to understand ‘negative effects’ of upgrades

Aston Martin’s form has dipped further since they introduced upgrades at Imola, causing their car to become more unpredictable for both Alonso and Lance Stroll.

While every F1 team wants their latest upgrades to add performance, Aston Martin intends to understand its aero package in Hungary given the change in circuit characteristics compared to Silverstone.

“Everyone is expecting a lot from Aston Martin’s developments in Hungary. Without wanting to be a spoilsport, I think what they are looking for with them this weekend is to understand some things and limit some of the negative effects of the AMR24,” said Lobato.

“They are looking to increase the efficient load to find the performance later on. At Silverstone the new wing mitigated the car’s problems in fast, wide-radius cornering, but the Hungaroring is completely different. We may not see an obvious and immediate improvement, but they may draw many valuable conclusions for the future.”

Aston Martin planning 2026 title attack

It will likely be an uphill struggle for Aston Martin to break into the top five teams if they do not find some improvements to the next couple of races and add to their overall tally of nine podiums.

Much of the work behind the scenes appears to be in preparation for a title assault in 2026, with former Ferrari engineer Enrico Cardile recently joining the team and is said to be taking some of the load off Fallows in the new technical structure.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Veteran engineer Bob Bell has also joined the team alongside former Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains head Andy Cowell, who Stroll said could put them ‘on track’ to win a championship. It is certainly a significant appointment given Aston Martin will be switching to Honda power for 2026.

Aston Martin will be hopeful that its state-of-the-art factory, described as a ‘spaceship’ by one journalist, will produce a car capable of regularly winning races.