Aston Martin showed surprising speed during Friday practice at Zandvoort, catching the eye of Red Bull’s Helmut Marko. But the promising pace mysteriously vanished when it mattered most.
Lance Stroll finished an impressive third in the first practice session, with teammate Fernando Alonso right behind in fourth. Alonso then grabbed third place in the second session.
By Saturday morning, everything had changed.
“The pace wasn’t there anymore. Already in FP3, we were only P12,” Alonso explained after qualifying.
The two-time world champion could only manage 10th in qualifying after a costly mistake in the final session. Stroll fared even worse, failing to set a competitive time.
“Yeah, it was what happened to me in Q3, Turn 10, I lost two and a half tenths compared to my Q2,” Alonso told reporters.
That small error proved extremely costly in such a tight field, dropping him several positions on the grid.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Alonso revealed the team had deliberately compromised their qualifying performance.
“I think it’s difficult to pass here, so not the best place to start. But we put a little bit more weight into the race with our tyre selection. We sacrificed a bit in qualifying. Let’s see tomorrow if that pays off.”
## Alonso responds to Marko
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko had suggested on Friday that Aston Martin had “found something” since the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso partially agreed with this assessment.
“I think a lot of things have changed. A couple of new components woke up the car and the aero platform,” he admitted.
However, the Spanish veteran was quick to temper expectations.
“We’re in a much better place now since Budapest, but still a long way off. Today we were just hardly fighting for Q3, so still a long way to go.”
The 42-year-old’s realistic assessment suggests Aston Martin’s revival might still be a work in progress, despite those eye-catching Friday times that briefly had the paddock buzzing.