Fernando Alonso made a surprise Q3 appearance at Imola, thanks to upgrades on his AMR25.
Struggling in the opening flyaway races, Aston Martin brought a vast array of upgrades to turn around its ailing season.
Only Fernando Alonso ran the upgrades. The new package featured multiple new elements to the floor, a new diffuser, engine cover and beam wing.
Practice indicated that the new package did not unlock performance in the AMR25. Alonso finished outside the top ten in all three practice sessions.
However, his car came alive in Q3, securing P5 for the Spaniard of Sunday’s race. Speaking to media after the race, Alonso praised his team but urged caution.
“I think it’s a little bit better than expected. Both cars in Q3 and the car felt competitive.Let’s see tomorrow.
“Definitely the new parts that we brought here are performing well. We saw yesterday when we tested them.Today is a confirmation.
“At the same time we need to keep our feet on the ground. Maybe Imola is a good track for us and we need to wait for different tracks.
“But happy for the team. Proud of them. They’ve been working hard .This upgrade hopefully brings some motivation to the team.
An unusual qualifying tyre strategy
Alonso secured P5 using medium tyres, going against the grain of the front runners. Asked if this would help the Spaniard stay in the points, Alonso was coy in his response.
“Let’s see tomorrow. I think we were competitive on the soft tyre. We were doing one soft and one medium in each quali session.
“Because of that we didn’t know which tyre was faster. We opted to run both compounds in all the sessions.
“You cover all the alternatives. I think on both runs we were always progressing through qualifying. I think we were generally fast today. We need to confirm tomorrow.”
Lance Stroll reflects on strong Imola qualifying performance
Lance Stroll, while not running the upgrades, also secured a Q3 appearence at Imola, lining 8th for Sunday’s race. He was happy with the tyre strategy.
“For sure I think good decisions. Yeah putting the medium today. Which paid off.Yeah and the car felt like it was coming alive and qualifying. So yeah we made the most of it.
“I think it was a bit of everything. So yeah I think we’ll get a better idea tomorrow in the race. So we really look with the upgrades.So yeah we’ll see how it goes.”
