Alonso lauds Aston’s Hungary high, but raises major 'concern'

Fernando Alonso was all smiles after claiming a strong fifth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but beneath the celebration, the Aston Martin driver admitted to a lingering concern: no one at Team Silverstone quite understands why the AMR25 was suddenly so competitive.

After a dismal showing at Spa, the team’s unexpected pace and double-points finish on race day – with Lance Stroll crossing the checkered flag 7th – left Alonso both thrilled and puzzled, urging a deep dive into the data to unlock the secrets of their strength at the Hungaroring.

Alonso admitted that he extracted the most from his car in race trim on Sunday, although podium hopes emerged at one stage.

“I think it couldn’t have gone any better than this, obviously,” he said after the race. “Someone told me that the two McLarens were very close to each other at one point. That would have been even better, but it didn’t happen.

“But yeah, apart from that, I think we maximised the performance of the car yesterday in quali and today in the race.

“Not much more to do on our side. The biggest threat was the two stops, but then he had some traffic, and at the end we were a little bit more relaxed.”

The two-time world champion played the long game during the race, especially when he found himself in a scrap with Mercedes’ George Russell.

“Yeah, before my pitstop I didn’t want to lose much time,” he explained. “I wanted him to overtake me on the main straight, not into Turn 2, because then we both lose a lot of time.

“So I said I will defend this straight and maybe in the next lap I let him go.”

A Front Wing – and a Head Scratcher

After qualifying, which he concluded P5, Alonso reckoned that Hungary’s venue had somehow catered to the AMR25’s strengths.

But Aston Martin also introduced a new, more aggressive front wing flap to the AMR25 for Hungary, building on the nose upgrade trialed at Spa. While the changes yielded little in Belgium, the difference in Budapest was night and day.

But that’s exactly what has Alonso concerned.

“It is a surprise, definitely,” he said. “It’s a nice surprise. The good thing is that we were competitive and we were fast. The concerning thing is that we don’t know why.

“In a way, we need this week at the factory to analyse exactly what are the differences between Spa and Hungary, what are the differences on the car as well, on the setup, on the aero devices that we were racing with.

“The main thing for us was the front wing that was new this weekend.

“If that front wing gives us that much of performance, that’s very good news, but I think that has to be understood at the moment.”

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Aston’s jump in performance suggests the AMR25 still has untapped potential – but without a clear understanding of what triggered the sudden leap, replicating it in future races might be challenging.

As F1 heads into a stretch of circuits with varying layouts and demands, Aston Martin will need answers fast. For now, though, the team can enjoy the momentum of its Hungarian breakthrough – even if it came with a question mark.

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