Otmar Szafnauer shares worrying noises from old Aston Martin colleagues about crucial upgrade

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Otmar Szafnauer has shared what he has heard about Aston Martin’s upcoming upgrades following their dreadful start to 2026.

Before the 2026 Formula 1 season, it was expected that Aston Martin would challenge at the front of the grid.

Due to the financial backing from Lawrence Stroll, the arrival of Adrian Newey and Fernando Alonso’s expertise, a lot of expectations were placed on the Silverstone-based team.

However, Aston Martin have endured a nightmare start to the campaign as the AMR26 has proven to be problematic.

So far, Alonso has only managed to inherit one point after a penalty was handed to Sergio Perez at the Monaco Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Stroll is yet to get off the mark.

Looking ahead, it has been rumoured that Aston Martin are planning to bring upgrades to the car when the Belgian Grand Prix comes around.

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Otmar Szafnauer shares worrying noises about crucial Aston Martin upgrade

Speaking on the latest episode of the High Performance Racing podcast, ex-Aston Martin team boss Szafnauer has revealed what he’s heard ‘internally’ about the team’s upcoming upgrades.

The 61-year-old claimed that Aston Martin have opted not to bring upgrades so far this season to concentrate on a ‘B-spec’ car.

However, the murmurs from Aston Martin are that it will still be ‘tough’ for them despite improvements being lined up.

Szafnauer said: “They did say early on that they aren’t going to bring little upgrades to, you know, race here, race there.

“Just like we talked about Ferrari’s upgrade, Mercedes upgrade. Mercedes brought theirs to Canada. They’re going to bring some more.

“They (Aston Martin) said no, we’re not doing that. Probably to save their cost cap money for one big B spec car. Let’s see what happens in Spa. But from what I hear internally, it’s going to be tough.”

Ex-Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley said: “We’re waiting for this big upgrade coming, isn’t there? You’ve got to give them the benefit of the doubt. They’ve got some very clever people there. In 6 weeks, we will see in Belgium.”

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Mike Krack admits poor season is ‘weighing on everyone’ at Aston Martin

Amid their ongoing struggles, Aston Martin’s Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack has admitted that the situation is ‘weighing on everyone’ within the team.

Despite the problems, Krack stated that Aston Martin are fully behind Newey’s decision to delay upgrades. 

As per F1’s official website, Krack said: “It’s weighing on everyone. You can feel it in the garage, you can feel it especially with the drivers. It’s a very difficult situation. 

“On the other hand, we have a strong leader, and the decision was made to upgrade then, and it’s for all of us to commit to that decision, even if it’s difficult.

“And it is our job to keep the motivation high, to learn as much as you can. I think there are a lot of things that we can improve still with this car. It will be easy to say, ‘We just go in circles and wait for the upgrades’. Some of the problems we have will still be there, so we need to solve them.”