Aston Martin still sets high goals for Zandvoort despite walking crash | Racer

The drivers of Aston Martin believe that they can fight for the best of the rest behind McLaren to qualify at the Dutch Grand Prix despite the Lance Stroll crash in practice.

Stroll had a serious crash in turn 3 after locking and touching the barrier on the outside of the couch with the couch, so that the red flags were brought forward in FP2. Although he has lost a significant run of high fuel, Stroll says that Fernando Alonso’s the second fastest lap suggests that Aston Martin could be at the front on Saturday.

“All good,” Stroll said about his fitness after the crash. “Just a small lock, and then I was just a passenger. So yes, just one of those things.

“I think we look competitive all day long. And again, Fernando now in FP2. So I think we are in a good place and see what we can do tomorrow.

‘I think it looks like [the first few rows are in reach]. Certainly, it looks like this. “

Stroll and Alonso became third and fourth in FP1 respectively in FP1 behind the two McLaren managers, and Alonso says that the signs are good for a repetition of the strong performance in Hungary, where he finished fifth and his teammate seventh.

“Certainly, a little more optimistic than some of the other Friday we did,” said Alonso. “After Hungary was strong for us and now we are going to the next race in Zandvoort and we are still showing a good pace in free practice. We know that it is only free practice, but it is good to see our times there and let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

“I don’t think it’s within our reach to fight with the McLarens. But maybe some of the top teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull – they don’t seem too far away. So we will try to be in that mix.”

However, of more importance for Alonso is the positive trend that Aston Martin understands how the most recent upgrade package can be optimized at locations that match the car.

“Absolutely,” he said. “This year we are unfortunately not fighting for big, big things. So the most important focus for the rest of the season is to ensure that we understand what we are doing in the factory and we translate those lessons into the job. And it seems that everything we brought on the track works as expected.

“So this brings enormous faith in what we will do in the next winter, knowing that our tools and what we do in the factory should hopefully translate into the Barcelona test next year.”