Aston Martin achieved its first Q2 appearance of the 2026 Formula 1 season during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso placed 16th after the team introduced a major upgrade package. The result came after the team used three sets of new tyres on the Hungaroring.
Oliver Bearman of Haas was outqualified by teammate Esteban Ocon by 0.223 seconds and missed Q2 by 0.107 seconds to Alonso. Bearman said the team should not be fighting with Aston Martin and called the outcome painful.
Bearman noted that Aston Martin benefited from the upgrades, which delivered more than 1.5 seconds of improvement. He added that the team gained an extra race set of tyres for the race but stressed the need to improve performance.
Carlos Sainz of Williams, who qualified 18th, urged his team to draw inspiration from Aston Martin's turnaround. He pointed out that the upgrade showed rapid progress is possible for midfield squads with similar resources ahead of Williams' planned updates in Baku.
