– Aston Martin stayed at the Hungaroring even longer after the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend. On Tuesday, the Silverstone-based team participated in a test for tire manufacturer Pirelli together with Alpine and Audi.
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But while Franco Colapinto in the Alpine A526 and Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi R26 completed another test day on Wednesday for the development of Pirelli tires for 2027, Aston Martin broke away from the previous day’s work and instead used its second filming day of the season.
This was eagerly anticipated, as the new Honda power unit was installed for the first time in the green car, using two development tokens from the ADUO system.
That the test served more for analyzing the Honda RA626H engine than for pure filming is shown by the fact that the function test was entrusted to Jak Crawford, the team’s third driver. Otherwise, the regular drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll would have been in the car.
The Japanese technicians were able, together with the Aston Martin team and supported by the race weekend data, to make important comparisons with the AMR26 from the Grand Prix, even though only demo tires are used on filming days and a maximum of 200 kilometers may be driven.
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The first indications are positive: The disturbing vibrations that had affected the start of the season seem to have been eliminated. Extensive work on the FIA-approved components is expected to bring a power increase of just under 30 hp in Zandvoort.
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That is not enough to seriously challenge the currently best power units in the field from Mercedes and Red Bull Ford, but it represents a solid progress that should regularly bring Alonso and Stroll close to the points positions.
The new power unit passed the bench tests in Sakura, and it will be interesting to see what performance level can be achieved in Zandvoort, where the complete new package will be used for the first time in a Grand Prix.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix over the weekend, the B-version of the AMR26 with all the innovations that Adrian Newey introduced both on the chassis and aerodynamics had already made its debut.
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The performance leap was immediately visible: Alonso made it into Q2 for the first time in qualifying and finished 14th in the race, just behind teammate Stroll. With the new engine, there should be another step forward after the summer break.
