Alonso explains how Aston Martin achieved eye-catching lift in performance at the Hungaroring

On the back of a hugely disappointing outing last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, Fernando Alonso explained how Aston Martin achieved its eye-catching lift in performance at the Hungaroring.

Following a hugely disappointing weekend last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, Aston Martin managed to bounce back at the Hungaroring. The Silverstone-based outfit displayed strong pace on Friday, and they managed to carry that fine form over into qualifying.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll made Q3 with ease, just one of three teams to get two cars into the top 10. The team opted to send their drivers very early for their last flying laps, and they did not disappoint as they managed to wind up in fifth and sixth, with the Spaniard just over a tenth adrift of Leclerc's pole time.

Reflecting on his performance in the Hungaroring qualifying session, Alonso was quick to point out that the twisting, tight nature of the Hungarian race track played to the strength os his car.

“I would say that it's track characteristics, to be honest,” said Alonso. “We didn't change the car massively since Spa seven days ago. No new parts for anybody to this race.

“Just the layout, the characteristics of the circuit is just suiting our car, apparently – and it would be nice to understand this, why the car is operating in this sweet spot here because if we understand that, we can use it in the next few races.”

"It seems the layout and characteristics of this track suit our car much better, and we need to try to understand this. The wind direction changed in Q3 and made the track slower, so we couldn't match the times of Q1 and Q2.

"We decided to run in the middle of the session in Q3 to avoid any other wind changes and we were close to pole position, so I think this decision worked well for us.

Signing off with a word for his expectations, Alonso stated: "If we can finish fifth and sixth tomorrow that would be a great result heading into the summer break."

His team-mate Lance Stroll also looked quick all through the weekend, having spent all practice sessions at the sharp end of the field. The Canadian ended up sixth, but with the times having been so tight, he just missed out on the pole position.

"Strong result for the team today – especially after such a tough weekend in Spa just a few days ago," Stoll commented. "The car was just a lot of fun to drive in Qualifying. It was super tight: we missed pole by a tenth and it's great to be starting from P6 tomorrow.

"The track really seems to suit the car and, with the conditions today, it all came together and everything was in the sweet spot for us.

"Let's see what happens tomorrow, but it's nice starting further up and we'll see what we can do. Hopefully we're in a position to score some points. We'll fight for sure," added the Canadian.

Speaking of the Silverstone-based team's performance, Chief Trackside Officer, Mike Krack stated that the team can now aim to score points with both cars after a tough race at last weekend's Spa-Francorchamps.

"Fifth and sixth on the grid in Budapest is a good result – well done to the entire team here and back at the AMR Technology Campus: everybody has played their part.

"Fernando and Lance did an excellent job and the car has been competitive since the start of practice yesterday. Now we need to deliver a strong result in the race, too.

When you start on the third row of the grid in Hungary, you always have a good chance of scoring points because overtaking is so difficult. There will be lots of strategy discussions overnight and we need to execute well tomorrow."