The Aston Martin driver believes he can compete for the remaining behind McLaren in qualifying on the Dutch Grand Prix regardless of Lance Stroll’s precise crash drop.
The stroll hit the barrier exterior the financial institution nook and pulled out the crimson flag of FP2 earlier than inflicting a violent crash on flip 3 on flip 3. He misplaced on a reasonably excessive gasoline run, however Stroll means that Fernando Alonso’s second quickest lap time might be featured close to the entrance on Saturday, Stroll says.
“It is all good,” the stroll mentioned of his health after the crash. “We had just a little lock-up and from there I used to be a passenger.
“I believe we’ll be aggressive all day lengthy, and as soon as once more, Fernando is in FP2 now, so I believe we’ll be in a superb place and see what we will do tomorrow.
“I believe it seems like (the primary few traces are out of attain). That is actually what it seems like.”
Stroll and Alonso are third and fourth quicker respectively on the FP1 behind the 2 McLaren drivers, and Alonso says they’ve good indicators for repeated robust performances in Hungary.
“It is actually just a little extra optimistic than the opposite Fridays we did,” Alonso mentioned. “Hungary has change into stronger with us and now we’re heading to the following race at Zandvaort, however we’re nonetheless displaying good tempo with free follow. We all know that it is simply free follow, however let’s take a look at our occasions and see what we will do tomorrow.
“I do not suppose it is out of our attain to battle McLaren, however maybe a few of the prime groups like Mercedes, Ferrari and Crimson Bull appear to be distant.
However what’s extra necessary for Alonso is the optimistic development that Aston Martin is aware of tips on how to optimize the most recent improve packages at venues that go well with the automobile.
“Little doubt,” he mentioned. “Sadly, we’re not preventing for giant huge issues, so the principle focus for the remainder of the season is to know what we’re doing within the manufacturing unit and translate these learnings into tracks.
“So this provides us nice confidence in what we’re making an attempt to do now subsequent winter, figuring out what we’re doing with our instruments and what we’re doing with our factories, and if potential, we should always translate it into the Barcelona check subsequent 12 months.”
