There are things that are difficult to explain in Formula 1. This also includes Aston Martin’s performance: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll stood together a week ago in the last series of stars (if not some drivers had preferred a pituitary alley start), now they are in the third in Hungary on Sunday.
Alonso and Stroll were the big surprises of qualifying at Hungaroring with places five and six, and there was actually not much happened on the AMR25: “We have not changed the car since Spa seven days ago,” confirms Alonso. “There are no new parts for this weekend either.”
According to the Spaniard, the upswing is mostly on the route, the layout of which fits Aston Martin well, even if Alonso still doesn’t quite understand where the good pace suddenly comes from. “It would be nice to understand why the car works so well here – if we find it out, we can transfer it to other routes,” he says.
Another factor for him is also the wind, which completely changed direction in Q3 and made the route slower. “We could no longer achieve the times from Q1 and Q2, but it was okay compared to the competition,” he says. “We drove out relatively early because we thought the wind would end up even stronger – that was probably paid out.”
Stroll underlines strong aston form
The fact that the result was no coincidence also shows Lance Stroll’s performance, who only came to Q3 for the second time this season and put on his best qualifying result of the year.
He says: “If we can drive a lot of downforce, the conditions are cool and little wind blows, then we are where we have to be. The car was fast all weekend – from the first training session we were in the top 6-7. And the best thing is how pleasant it was to drive the car.”
Despite the signs, positions five and six were a surprise for the team: “If we were offered fifth and six before the weekend – we would have signed immediately after we were 19th and 20th last week,” says Stroll.
And the competition also had to be amazed: “To be honest, we thought at first that they might have driven with little fuel in training-but obviously they just have a good pace,” says Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. “It was probably naive from us to accept that. They clearly did a good job, both drove strong rounds in the qualification.”
Video: Quali analysis: Wind whirls Ferrari on Hungary poles
Injured on Friday, on Sunday in series three
For Alonso, the result before the summer break should be motivation to pull through the race Sunday. Due to back problems, the Spaniard left the first training session on Friday and Rookie Felipe Drugovich left the wheel. With a view of a good result, it is certainly easier for him to pull through.
“Yes, of course I’m happy,” he says when asked if he was good that he did not throw the towel. “If the car is good, you don’t want to sit at home in front of the TV.”
SPA, on the other hand, would have preferred to watch TV, given the bad result and the consequences: “I contracted a muscle strain or fiber tear in Spa at the seat – that would need two weeks.
Before that, however, he has to survive the race by a strong result for Aston Martin. But what about the racing team on Sunday?
“It would be nice if we were only a tenth a tenth per round in the race,” says operations manager Mike Krack at Servustv. “But race and qualifying – these are two completely different stories.”
Alonso hopes: hold positions would be nice
Aston Martin’s advantage: overtaking is traditionally difficult in Hungary. “We have to make sure that we keep out of difficulties,” said Krack. “They are quick cars behind us – they want to go over. But we will try to prevent this.”
One of the fast cars includes Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, which is only in eighth place. “Max will safely plow through the field,” Stroll does not believe that the world champion will be able to be reserved. “We can definitely fight with the racing bulls and with the clean. It will be our race, I think.”
And Alonso also does not believe that Aston Martin will be oriented forward: “It would be nice if we finish in the same positions as we start – fifth and sixth would be great points before the summer break,” he says. “This is our first goal.”
“If we can still make up for places, great – but we also have to see that fast cars start behind us: Max, Lewis [Hamilton] … it won’t be easy. “