Aston Martin’s drivers believe they can fight for best of the rest behind McLaren in qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix despite Lance Stroll’s crash in practice.
Stroll had a heavy crash at Turn 3 after locking up and hitting the barrier on the outside of the banked corner, bringing out the red flags in FP2. Although he lost out on significant high fuel running, Stroll says Fernando Alonso’s second-fastest lap time suggests Aston Martin could be featuring near the front on Saturday.
“All good,” Stroll said of his fitness after the crash. “Just a little lock up, and then from there I was just a passenger. So yeah, just one of those things.
“I think we look competitive all the way throughout the day. And again, Fernando now in FP2. So I think we’re in a good spot and see what we can do tomorrow.
“I think it looks like [the first few rows are in reach]. For sure, it looks that way.”
Stroll and Alonso were third and fourth fastest respectively in FP1 behind the two McLaren drivers, and Alonso says the signs are good for a repeat of the strong performance in Hungary, where he finished fifth and his teammate seventh.
“For sure, a little bit more optimistic than some of the other Fridays we did,” Alonso said. “After Hungary was strong for us and now we’re going to the following race in Zandvoort and we’re still showing some good pace in free practice. We know it’s only free practice, but it’s good to see our times up there and let’s see what we can do tomorrow.
“I don’t think that it’s within our reach to fight with the McLarens. But maybe some of the top teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull – they seem not too far away. So we will try to be in that mix.”
Of more importance to Alonso, though, is the positive trend that Aston Martin is understanding how to optimize its most recent upgrade package at venues that suit the car.
“Definitely,” he said. “This year, unfortunately, we are not fighting for big, big things. So the main focus for the rest of the season is to make sure that we understand what we do in the factory and we translate those learnings into the track. And it seems that in the last couple of months, everything that we brought to the track is working as expected.
“So this brings huge confidence into what we will do now in the next winter, knowing that our tools and what we do in the factory should translate, hopefully, into the Barcelona test next year.”