Pedro de la Rosa has reflected on “one of the best moments we’ve had so far” during the latest episode of the official F1 podcast Beyond The Grid. The Aston Martin Team Representative detailed the tension surrounding the squad’s concentrated upgrade schedule, revealing he was “very nervous” as the heavily revised AMR26 hit the track in Hungary.
‘Everything worked as planned’
The Silverstone-based outfit endured a difficult start to the 2026 campaign, grappling with reliability gremlins and a performance deficit. Instead of drip-feeding updates across multiple weekends like their rivals, Aston Martin opted for a bold B-spec launch at Round 11. The gamble paid immediate dividends: the revised machinery vaulted ahead of Cadillac and Williams in qualifying, with further momentum arriving via a new Honda power unit in the Netherlands.
De la Rosa conceded the performance gain was never guaranteed, but Fernando Alonso delivered an instant verdict after the installation lap.
“I would lie if I said I was not very nervous because you are expecting, you are hoping, you’ve been waiting a long time, and then the car just starts,” he said. “I looked at the car and the side pods were so small, the radiators look the smallest I’ve ever seen in my life.
“And I thought ‘OK, the aero numbers are promising, but maybe the cooling is not enough.’ Or you start thinking about many other scenarios where I’ve been, because I’ve been in most of the most unwanted scenarios in F1. But everything worked as planned.
“Then after the installation lap, you looked around and the people were relieved because everything was working as expected. With Fernando, I know him so much that we look at the eyes. I always try to be at the front of the car when he comes in after a run. He looks at me, I look at him, and I know exactly what he’s thinking.
“I don’t even need to listen to the radio. And his eyes look like, ‘yes, it’s working.’ Sometimes we’ve had upgrades in the past and I look at him and he immediately doesn’t want to look at my eyes. When he tries to refuse the eye contact, I know we are in trouble. But that time he looked and he was just like, ‘yeah, it’s there, it’s there.'”
“It was a very exciting moment. You always have to focus on things you can change, you can do, you can improve. That was, OK, not where we wanted to be, I repeat again, but it was one of the best moments we’ve had so far this season.”
Upgrades not a factor in Alonso’s future
With persistent speculation surrounding Alonso’s future in the sport, his visible satisfaction provided a timely morale boost. However, De la Rosa insisted the upgrade timeline was never designed to influence the Spaniard’s contract decision.
“I think that decision was never based [on] if we lost anyone or anything. I think that Fernando, whatever his decision will be, you have to believe in a project, you know, not if the car is quick on the next race.
“I think Fernando is so wise, he’s learned so much, that it’s either you believe in the project or you don’t. It’s not whether we managed to improve the car for the summer break as we were expecting.”
‘in good hands’ with Adrian Newey
The team’s early struggles surprised many observers given the high-profile arrival of Adrian Newey last season. Widely regarded as one of the most successful designers in Formula 1 history, Newey’s move from Red Bull was expected to deliver immediate front-running pace. While that transformation remains a work in progress, De la Rosa praised how seamlessly the Briton has integrated into the operation, offering a modern interpretation of the Team Principal role.
“I must say that Team Principal is a title,” he explained. “It’s not a job description. Adrian has said it many times. We are fortunate in the team having Mike Krack as well, an experienced Team Principal, now chief track operations.
“But when Adrian is not at the racetrack, Mike acts like a Team Principal. I think we have a very luxurious situation where we have people working in different areas covering for when Adrian is not here. Other teams have different structures.
“It’s quite ambiguous now what a Team Principal job description really is. In my time, you had a Team Principal that was taking all the decisions. But now you have a Team Principal and normally you also have a CEO on top of them. I think that we have a very good structure. As long as Adrian feels comfortable and competitive, we’re in good hands.”
Taking steps towards where they want to be
Aston Martin has been clear that scraping points—achieved twice in 2026 with Alonso—falls well short of their ultimate ambition. The gap to the frontrunners remains significant, but De la Rosa expressed confidence in the current trajectory.
“I think that we are in the upward trend,” he concluded. “I’ve said it in Australia this year, when we started this, we were nowhere. But all we need to do is improve and never stop improving.
“Obviously, our strategy was different. We didn’t improve until the summer, but we’ve made a big step. We are now in a position we cannot stop. It’s just a race of time. The people have done a better job than us. That’s why they’re winning. We just have to slowly chip away all this difference. That’s where we are.
“Everyone has to feel accountable for the results. Everyone has to feel super motivated. We have an amazing partner in Honda that we’ve managed to survive very difficult times together. We can’t stop and we won’t stop.
“We can do it. It’s just a matter of never stop the development path that we are in right now. The only teams that do win are the ones that make the right investments. I believe I’m in the right team that is definitely making the right investments.”
To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.
You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes—spanning every decade of F1—in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library.
You can also watch the podcast on the F1 YouTube channel.
