29/08/2025 18:40
Fernando Alonso has warned the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red
Bull that Aston Martin is in the fight at Zandvoort following a
strong Dutch Grand Prix Friday. Team-mate Lance Stroll finished
third in FP1 before Alonso actually split the dominant McLaren duo
of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in FP2, finishing 0.087s down on
Norris. The result was Alonso's first top-three placing in a
practice session all season, with the Aston Martin continuing to
show the strong pace it did in Hungary, where Alonso was fifth and
Stroll seventh in the race. Reflecting on his Friday, the two-time
world champion believes that whilst McLaren will be out of reach,
the usual suspects in the chasing pack are well within Aston's
strike range. "I am a little bit more optimistic than after some
other Fridays we have done," Alonso explained. "Hungary was strong
for us, and now we are at Zandvoort and we're still showing good
pace in Free Practice, but we know it is only practice, but it is
good to see our times up there. "I don't think it is within our
reach to fight with the McLarens, but maybe some of the top teams,
like Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, don't seem too far away, so
we will try to be in the mix. "The main focus for the rest of the
season is to make sure we understand what we're doing at the
factory translates into learnings on track, and it seems that
everything we brought in the last couple of months is working as
expected. "So this brings huge confidence into what we will do over
the winter, knowing our tools and what we are doing in the factory
should translate into next year."
