Aston Martin looking to go back racing with heavily upgraded AMR26 in Hungary

So high were the expectations from the AMR26, penned by Formula 1 design guru Adrian Newey as Aston Martin entered a new era with Honda as their works partner.

But despite the AMR26 turning heads on its late debut in Barcelona, the reality turned out to be totally different as the AMR26, with the Honda power unit bolted to its rear, became a vibrating death trap for drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll while also being woefully off the pace.

Aston Martin decided against adding incremental performance to the car, preferring to work on a major redesign of the car, a B-spec, so to say, which will finally break cover in Hungary, as Honda are planning to bring their upgraded power unit to Zandvoort after the summer break.

Asked about the expectations from the upgrades, Aston Martin's Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack said: “For us, the most important is that we go back racing, because we have not over the last events.

"It was very difficult to keep up with the midfield. Whatever it’s going to bring, I think going racing is most important for everyone.

“I think the period that we had with no upgrades for very long is now over, so it looks good for the future, and we are just all looking forward to Budapest and seeing what we have," he added.

Newey has detailed the reasons behind Aston Martin's development plan while also revealing some details about the change to the AMR26 in a recent interview on Aston Martin's official website.

Krack commented: “As [Adrian] was saying, the main things are obviously aerodynamic [changes] and weight [reduction].

"To achieve that, you have to do a lot of things, and everything has been achieved that we wanted. We’re counting the days," he concluded.