Aston Martin braced for 'worst race of the year' at Belgian GP despite upgrade hope

Aston Martin's struggles in 2026 are well-known. Entering the season with so much expectation, the team have been plagued with severe performance and reliability issues in equal measure ever since beginning the campaign with extreme Honda engine vibrations in Australia.

Aston have effectively solved the vibration issues, but are still in dire need of an uptick in performance - after nine rounds of 2026, they have been battling against newcomers Cadillac, around a second behind the American team in Qualifying at the last two Grands Prix, and with only one point to their name thanks to a penalty-ridden Monaco GP. Last time out, at Silverstone, the team were the last to cross the line in P18 and P19.

At Spa-Francorchamps, Stroll and Alonso face their toughest challenge yet, with the Belgian GP circuit expected to be low on energy recovery opportunities but rewarding of high straight-line speed.

Previewing what could be dubbed a 'second home race' considering his mother was born in Belgium, Stroll told media: "We know that Spa’s going to be really difficult and probably the worst circuit of the year for us.

Stroll opting to focus on the next race after Spa is no surprise, with the Hungarian GP set to be where Aston implement a long-awaited upgrade package to try and turn their season around. Rather than incremental upgrades throughout the campaign, the team have instead targeted one major chassis upgrade at the Hungaroring.

After that, F1 shuts down for the summer break, but more upgrades are expected at the first Grand Prix back in Zandvoort, this time related to the power unit. Speaking in his preview of the Belgian GP, Honda's trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara confirmed Aston Martin only have "two more races" left to run with their current power unit.

For Stroll's teammate Alonso, the much-anticipated upgrades are all well and good, but the two-time world champion has warned the British team that it must only be the start should they hope to make good on the target to eventually win races.

Speaking after the British GP, Alonso said: "We need to study, we need to regroup, and we need to make a plan. I think for the fans, they want Aston Martin to win races and to fight for the championship. So I don't think that this year, whatever the upgrade is and whatever we can improve, will be never enough.

"We will always miss an extra package. So that has to be clear for the fans, that we are working day and night to improve the car. We will get better. Will we win races? Not this year. So this is only the first step into the plan. It cannot be the last one. It's important to feel in Hungary that we are understanding what are the weaknesses of the car and we are tackling them.

"Especially on the aero package, that is the first one that is coming, we are struggling with very specific things this year behind the wheel and if those are improved in Hungary and we can drive the car to maximum, then I think there is a very clear path and a good momentum that we can take for next year."