Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin upgrades a first step of good ones coming

Alonso was 13th and 19th fastest in FP1 and FP2, respectively, on Friday in Budapest as Aston Martin's deficit to rivals seems to be reduced, and while the actual gap is yet to be known, Qualifying should offer an indication on Saturday while keeping in mind that Aston Martin still need to optimize their package and understand it more.

But a Formula 1 driver with Alonso's experience can get a feeling of the car under him from the first couple of laps, and based on that, he delivered his verdict on the B-spec AMR26.

The Spaniard said: "Yeah, it felt good. I think in general we had what we expected in terms of numbers and correlation, which is obviously very encouraging for the future as well, for next year's car and the future upgrades this year.

"So yeah, still a long way to go for us, obviously starting so far behind, but this is the first step, hopefully, of good ones coming," he maintained, echoing Adrian Newey's comments that this was the first part of the full upgrade.

Giving some further insight, Alonso claimed Aston Martin were not losing as much in corners; he explained: "Obviously we need to study the data more and see a little bit of the overlays.

"But I don't think there are any big surprises there or any big deficit in the corners now to the top of the midfield, which is obviously the first of our ambitions—to be at the top of the midfield.

"And I think in the corners we are matching that kind of pace, so we just need to keep up the work. Obviously there are still some steps to go on the chassis side and some steps to go on the engine side as well.

"So, as I said, this is the first of many, but I think there is a positive atmosphere in the team, knowing that we delivered what we expected," Alonso concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)