Fernando Alonso warned Aston Martin must be “careful” after securing a double Q3 appearance in Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix qualifying session amid a tight midfield.
Alonso led team-mate Lance Stroll in Saturday’s quali session with the duo finishing seventh and ninth respectively.
The Silverstone-based squad has struggled in the development race in 2024, finding itself embroiled in a midfield scrap with the top-four teams out of reach.
A strong showing in qualifying gives Aston Martin cause for optimism going into race day at Zandvoort and the rest of the season, but Alonso was playing coy post-qualifying.
“We’re definitely happy with both cars in Q3,” the Spaniard said.
“I think at the same time, we see Williams bringing an upgrade here, they’re very strong.
“Alpine they brought the upgrade in Spa. [Esteban] Ocon was faster than us in the race. And here Pierre [Gasly] is doing a mega job as well.
“So we have to be careful, and we cannot stop developing the car, because the midfield is getting tighter and tighter.”
Still, it was a strong qualifying performance from Alonso, who talked through his sole run in the Q3 top-10 shootout.
“I went through Turn 1, Turn 3, and I thought ‘OK, this is very good,’ and I took some extra risk and everything was fine,” he explained.
“And then, Turn 9, Turn 10, I felt less wind than in any other lap in qualifying. So I was like three-tenths better on my delta time.
“So I just complete the lap with no mistakes in the last sector, and then when I crossed the line, obviously you don’t know still seven minutes to go which position you will end up, but I was happy with the lap.
“Whatever position it was at the end, this was the maximum I felt today.”
Alex Albon’s disqualification from qualifying means Alonso and Stroll line up seventh and eighth on Sunday’s Grid with Gasly and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz sat on the row behind.
With limited dry running, Alonso said Sunday’s race is a voyage into the “unknown” as he outlined Aston Martin’s race prospects.
“I think we go into the unknown,” Alonso said.
“Everybody does, because of the lack of dry laps yesterday, also the conditions will be different.
“The wind will remain strong, but blue sky, track temperature will be 20 degrees up or whatever, so maybe tyre degradation will be completely different.
“So we have to be flexible, we have to execute a good race. One Ferrari behind, one Mercedes [Lewis Hamilton, 14th], maybe it’s unrealistic to finish in front of them. B
“But we have to fight hard if we want to score points.”
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