Fernando Alonso makes 'amazing' three-second claim as Aston Martin wait ends

Fernando Alonso believes it is "amazing" that Aston Martin has shaved three seconds of deficit to the leaders in qualifying in just two races after its upgrades were completed at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The team deployed its chassis upgrades last time out in Hungary, with the new Honda engine being run in competition for the first time at Zandvoort, and although Alonso did not make it to Q2, he was close to doing so once again.

The two-time champion fell 0.098s short of Alex Albon's safe Williams in Q1, but it was the gap to segment topper Oscar Piastri which caught Alonso's eye.

He lapped 1.050s slower than Piastri, which Alonso pointed out was a gain of nearly three seconds in lap-time from Q1 two races ago in Belgium, when he was 4.137s slower than Lando Norris, a gain of 3.087s. Although it must be caveated that Spa is a significantly longer track than Zandvoort, thus widening the gaps between cars.

"In Budapest, we were in Q2, and here, we were like a tenth from it, or something like that," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.

"The minimum gap to the leader, Piastri, in Q1 was 1.050s in front of us. We used to be 4.5s on average behind the leader, so we've improved three seconds in two races.

"This is amazing; everything is working as expected, but this is a tough sport; you always need to keep improving.

"Here, track-side, there is not much we can do [to improve driveability], we need to rely on some big changes in the factory or software, and it has to come from Japan, so it is not one day to the next. It is probably more towards Monza, where we need to find another step."

Turning his attention to the race itself, Alonso felt that it would be tough to challenge for points.

"Normally, we are a little better in the race because our chassis is very good, and when people have older tyres, we rely more on the grip from the chassis and not so much the tyre grip," he added.

"So, we can do a better job, but at the same time, we cannot overtake on the straights, so we are in a difficult position, but we are in a difficult position."

However, team-mate Lance Stroll was not as effusive about the upgrade, reflecting that the upgrade have provided "not so much [of a boost], maybe a bit, but not nearly enough."