Alonso battles through chaotic first practice as Aston Martin tests major upgrades

Fernando Alonso’s Friday in Budapest was anything but quiet. After rolling his car out into the pit lane for the mandatory display and warming up the crew with a few practice stops, he headed to the Aston Martin garage about an hour before Free Practice 1 (FP1) kicked off at 8:30 a.m. ET. There, alongside team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa, he took a close look at the AMR26 — now loaded with 16 new upgrades.

Under the watchful eye of Adrian Newey on the engineers’ wall, Alonso took his first laps and wrapped the session in 13th place. Not a bad start considering the mountain of new parts Aston Martin brought to Hungary. But for Lance Stroll, things unraveled fast.

A rough start for Aston Martin

With so many fresh components bolted onto the car, both drivers headed out early to gather data. After an initial run that put them ahead of Cadillac and Williams, trouble struck:

Stroll’s left‑rear suspension failed without warning, spinning him around as he exited Turn 2. A dangerous moment — but thankfully no contact with the wall. The session was halted with a red flag.

Aston Martin seemed confident the issue was isolated. As soon as the track went green again, Alonso returned on soft tires and clocked a 1:21.550, good enough for 13th, about 2.4 seconds off Charles Leclerc’s top time. He finished ahead of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, and more than half a second clear of Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez.

Those are the numbers — but meaningful conclusions will have to wait for more representative sessions.

Tough opening session for Carlos Sainz

Just like in Spa, Carlos Sainz had a rough start in Budapest. His FP1 included:

The result: last place in FP1.

Leclerc topped the session by 0.4 seconds over Verstappen, despite a late issue with his Ferrari. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton had minor scares but nothing serious.

Free practice 1 results in Hungary

Five rookies also took part in FP1:

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