Aston Martin’s Hungary qualifying performance down to “track characteristics”

Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin’s impressive performance in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix was down to “track characteristics” rather than the team unlocking more pace from its Formula 1 car.

Both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll made it to the final segment of qualifying on Saturday, before going on to lock the third row of the grid.

Fifth place marked Alonso’s joint-best qualifying result of the season, while Stroll also achieved his highest grid slot of F1 2025 in sixth.

However, Alonso doesn’t think Aston Martin’s qualifying result means the team has made a breakthrough, saying it was simply a case of the AMR25 working well around the Hungaroring.

Asked to explain the team’s improved form at the Hungaroring, he told the media including Crash.net: “I would say that it's track characteristics, to be honest.

“I think 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.

Alonso, however, cautioned against keeping high expectations for Sunday’s race, stressing that the team is simply aiming for a big haul of points in the last race before summer break.

“I think [a podium is] going to be difficult, to be honest. I would like if we can finish in the same positions as we start. Fifth and sixth will be lovely in terms of points for the team before summer break and that will be the first target. 

“If we can recover any place it will be good but I think we need to understand as well that there are some threats from behind, some fast cars, Max [Verstappen] is starting behind, Lewis [Hamilton] as well, so it's not going to be easy.”