The Aston Martins qualified a tenth of a second off pole position ahead of the Hungarian GP, only one week after being the slowest cars on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps.
A remarkable turnaround in performance saw the Aston Martins bounce back from qualifying P19 and P20 in Belgium with a third row lock-out at the Hungaroring – the team’s best qualifying result all season.
Fernando Alonso will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from P5 with teammate Lance Stroll just behind in P6.
Aston Martin have not added any new parts to the car in Hungary and speaking after the session Alonso believed the change in performance was largely due to different track characteristics.
“It’s a very different layout than Spa. Seven days ago we were in the last row of the grid and now we are fifth and sixth. So yeah, a huge change. We need to understand why and hopefully learn what was benefiting the car here and we can take these lessons into the next Grand Prix.”
Alonso matched his best qualifying result of the season – a P5 in Imola in May. For Lance Stroll P6 was his strongest qualifying result of the season.
Speaking after the session Stroll expressed that the car has been on the pace since Friday.
“I mean it was just in the window all weekend and stayed that way in qualifying. So yeah, the car was really nice to drive. All weekend it’s been nice to drive, so yeah, it’s fun.”
Can Aston Martin carry their pace into Sunday?
In an intensely competitive Q3 just 0.126 seconds split the top six drivers.
Charles Leclerc took a surprise pole position ahead of the two McLarens and George Russell – with just 0.053 seconds splitting the four fastest cars.
The Aston Martins followed closely behind in challenging Q3 conditions as Alonso explained.
“Yeah, it was special, all the laps, even though in Q3 I think the wind swift a little bit and it was a slower track for everyone.
“We could not match the lap times of Q1 and Q2 so that was a little bit, yeah, frustrating.”
The two-time world champion Alonso remained hopeful that the team could continue their pace into Sunday’s race.
“P5 is a great place for sure. And tomorrow I don’t know what can be possible, but we will try to consolidate these positions – it will be huge for the team if we can finish in the starting positions.”
The Astons Martins will start the race ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Max Verstappen and the two Racing Bulls.
Fernando Alonso yet again proves that age is but a number
On Friday it seemed in doubt that Alonso would compete in qualifying at all.
The Spaniard pulled out of FP1 on Friday suffering from a muscular injury in his back. This was thought to be a lingering injury from the previous race weekend in Belgium.
He was replaced by Aston Martin’s test and reserve driver Felipe Drugovich for FP1.
In a week where he turned 44 years old, Alonso returned to the cockpit for FP2 and was straight on the pace finishing the session in P5.
After a difficult start to the season – pointless after 8 rounds – Alonso has scored points in four of the last five race weekends.
The Hungaroring is a circuit he has had success at in the past and the site of his first F1 victory 22 years ago.
The last time both Aston Martins qualified in the top 10 – at the Emilia Romagna GP in Imola – neither driver converted their qualifying position into points.
But qualifying one tenth off pole position around a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake, Alonso and Aston Martin could be quietly confident about a strong result on Sunday afternoon.
