Fernando Alonso pulls back the curtain on the change of conditions that ultimately resulted in Charles Leclerc beating the McLaren duo

Aston Martin star Fernando Alonso will start the 2025 Hungarian GP in P5 after an excellent qualifying session. Charles Leclerc unexpectedly took the pole position away from the two McLaren drivers. The 44-year-old came out after the race and revealed what led to the Monegasque's pole position.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri topped the practice session, along with the Q1 and Q2 qualifying sessions, which led to the all-important Q3 session. Many expected a showdown between the two McLaren drivers for the top spot, but it was Charles Leclerc who beat both of them.

Fernando Alonso himself was looking super strong in Q1 and Q2, and was looking in contention for a Top three start. However, the lap times set by Alonso in Q3, along with Norris and Piastri, were worse than what the trio managed in the Q2 session. Leclerc was the only driver in the Top five to improve on his timing from Q2.

The two-time F1 champion was questioned about the track conditions in qualifying as the temperature dropped massively, with a few spots of rain hitting the tarmac in Q1, and the wind speed also increased.

Fernando Alonso - F1 Grand Prix of Hungary - Qualifying - Source: Getty

The Aston Martin driver detailed how it was more the change in the direction of the wind between the qualifying sessions, which led to many drivers not being able to match the times from Q2. Alonso spoke with the media, including Sportskeeda, as he said,

“I think the wind was the main thing, the temperatures were stable. But the wind completely switched in Q2 and Q3 and made the track slower. We could not match lap times of Q1 and Q2, but we always were okay. We went in the middle of the session thinking it (wind) would pick up at the end. Yeah we were quite close to pole position so I think it worked fine for us.”

Regardless, Fernando Alonso matched his best-ever qualifying result of the season as he also started P5 at the Emilia Romagna GP and was just a tenth away from Charles Leclerc’s pole position lap time.

Fernando Alonso shared details about the back injury that forced him to miss FP1 at Budapest

Fernando Alonso missed the FP1 session at the Hungarian GP with Felipe Drugovich filling in for the Spaniard. He suffered an injury to his back from his seat at the Spanish GP, and sat out FP1 to relax the muscle and give the injury some extra time to heal.

The Spaniard revealed that the injury isn't fully healed yet, but he will get time during the summer break (after Hungary) for the same. Detailing what the injury is, Alonso said,

“I have a small injury on my muscle on the back in the lumbar area and I needed some rest, but the summer break is coming, so it’s another two days of managing the comfort in the seat. Yesterday, we found different solutions with pads and other things that are working fine, so today, I had no pain in FP2, so that is positive.” (via F1)

Aston Martin locked out the third row for the 2025 Hungarian GP with Lance Stroll starting in P6.