Improved Aston Martin Worries Franco Colapinto

Franco Colapinto has warned that Aston Martin has become "much faster" than Alpine in the corners, as the Silverstone-based team recovers from a challenging start to Formula 1's new era.

With the transition to new cars emphasizing energy management with a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power, Aston Martin initially struggled. The restructured Honda team delivered a power unit that was both underpowered and unreliable.

However, the engine wasn't Aston Martin's sole problem, as demonstrated by the performance of the Adrian Newey-designed AMR26 in Monaco. There, despite fortuitously scoring a point on Sunday, the team qualified 21st and 22nd, far off the pace of any competitor.

Aston Martin had long held off on introducing upgrades this year, focusing instead on a comprehensive update package that finally debuted in Hungary last week. Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time this year in a non-sprint qualifying session. In the race, he and teammate Lance Stroll finished 14th and 13th respectively – just 10 seconds behind Alpine's Pierre Gasly and with a comfortable lead over Colapinto.

Zandvoort, however, is also where Honda will introduce a significant power unit upgrade, expected to be a game-changer for Aston Martin – especially concerning top speed. Nevertheless, Colapinto was quite dissatisfied with his race at the Hungaroring, where he finished 15th after starting 13th.