Despite missing the first free practice on Friday in Hungary, Fernando Alonso‘s qualifying result was not affected. The Spaniard impressively starts fifth in the main event at the Hungaroring, a week after he was at the back of the Belgian starting grid. Alonso hopes to capitalize on his fifth starting position on Sunday, but is wary of Max Verstappen, who starts the race from eighth place.
For the fifth time this year, Fernando Alonso is in the top ten of a qualifying session. The fact that this impressive performance comes a week after his elimination in Q1 at Spa-Francorchamps makes it an even more remarkable result for the Spaniard. The Aston Martin drivers, with their respective fifth and sixth starting positions for Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll, have brought about a significant turnaround within a week.
“Of course, it’s because of the driver,” the Spaniard jokes after the session with Sky Sports. “The car was much better this weekend,” Alonso continues in a serious tone. “We still need to understand why, because five, six days ago in Spa we were nineteenth and twentieth. And now we are fifth and sixth.”
Alonso suspects that the difference is primarily due to the Hungaroring itself. “The cars haven’t changed much, so it seems that the layout or characteristics of the Hungaroring suit our package better. So we definitely need to maximize our result during these types of weekends.” The two-time world champion hopes that Aston Martin will soon figure out why the AMR25 was so fast on Saturday. “Then we can use that information for the next few races as well.”
‘Max is still behind us’
For now, Alonso is mainly looking forward to the race on the Hungaroring itself, which still has to be run on Sunday. “I think this one is going to be very difficult,” the Spaniard admits honestly. “It would be nice if we could capitalize on our starting positions. The fifth and sixth places would give us a good number of points ahead of the summer break. That’s why it’s also my goal. But there is certainly danger lurking. There are a few fast cars behind us, like Lewis Hamilton, so it won’t be easy.”
