Aug.30 (GMM) Aston Martin stunned the paddock at Zandvoort by emerging as McLaren’s closest challenger after Friday practice for the Dutch GP.
Fernando Alonso was the big surprise, with Red Bull’s Helmut Marko admitting: “After Budapest, something changed that is really effective.”
Williams driver Carlos Sainz agreed: “In Hungary, they were close to pole position. I don’t know if they’re at McLaren’s level, but they’re fighting with Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull in qualifying.”
But while Alonso impressed, teammate Lance Stroll endured another awkward moment – crashing heavily in practice.
“I saw him in the paddock afterwards on the scooter and he looked bored again,” former F1 driver Robert Doornbos told Ziggo Sport. “It’s really sloppy how he wrote off the whole car.”
The home fans also saw an uncharacteristic mistake from Max Verstappen, who beached his Red Bull in the gravel just 200 metres after a practice start.
“Over-motivated,” Marko smirked.
More worrying for Red Bull is that the reigning champions still look well adrift of the McLarens, despite Marko’s insistence: “The problems in Hungary had a different origin. We’ve solved that.”
Verstappen, however, disagreed. “We still have the same problems. We’ve tried a lot of things with the car, but that doesn’t change the fundamental difficulties.”
As for Sunday, Alonso doubts he can really take the fight to the dominant McLarens. “No way! No, the reality is that McLaren is out of reach – for us and for everyone else,” the two-time champion admitted.
The 44-year-old Spaniard says the encouraging part is that Aston has stopped messing up its upgrades. “We’ve secretly decided to make Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull a little nervous,” he smiled.
“We’re in a good place with them, and we want to stay there. What also gives me encouragement is that we understand the car quite well now, our tools are working. This is all very important preparation for 2026, when we’ll be racing with the new cars.”
Alonso says there was no excuse for the Silverstone based team’s earlier development problems.
“You learn from mistakes and things that didn’t work,” he said. “But I don’t think it was right to keep bringing updates that don’t work in the end. And even if we learn from that, that shouldn’t really happen.
“This is Formula 1, not a testing academy. You have to deliver.”
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