'Nothing more we could ask' – Alonso praises Aston Martin's Hungary result as he remains 'optimistic' for rest of 2025

Fernando Alonso believes there was "nothing more we could ask" from the Hungarian Grand Prix as Aston Martin secured its best team result of the season.

The 44-year-old Spaniard initially started the weekend in Budapest on the back foot, having been forced to miss Free Practice 1 due to a small back injury where he was replaced by reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich.

Alonso returned to the cockpit for the rest of the weekend, which proved a good decision, as he qualified fifth for Sunday's 70-lap race and was joined on the third row by team mate Lance Stroll, the pair less than two tenths away from pole position.

It signified a remarkable turnaround for the British team, which only a week earlier had qualified on the back row of the grid in Belgium before registering a double non-score.

"Definitely very happy, P5 the best result of the year and the best result as a team, 16 points before the summer break it feels good," said Alonso, who has now scored points in five of the last six races.

"It was one of those weekends that everything feels right since Free Practice. A good Quali yesterday, good race, good execution, good tyre management. Nothing more we could ask."

The result, which was achieved via a one-stop strategy for both Alonso and Stroll, has launched Aston Martin up from P8 to P6 in the Teams' Championship ahead of Kick Sauber and Racing Bulls.

The team only sits 18 points behind Williams and, with 10 races remaining as well as an upturn in form, Alonso is hopeful of a strong end to the season.

"Definitely more optimistic for the second part of the year. We really needed this result," said Alonso.

"Spa last week we were at the bottom of the list and now we are P5 and P7 so we need to learn what is the difference between the two tracks, what we did different to the car and try to apply those learnings into the next race."