After comprehensively grabbing the limelight at the beginning of the season for his heroics on the racetrack, Fernando Alonso lost some of that presence after unpleasant results in Austria and Silverstone. Now, F1 has come to Hungary again, the track where Alonso won his first-ever race exactly 20 years ago, in 2003. So while he hopes to recreate that magic again, he has to rely on the Weather Gods for Aston Martin to do well.

For Alonso, Hungary is a special track where he always celebrates his birthday. But this year he’ll be celebrating his birthday at SPA instead of Hungary. Because of this, he had commented saying, “Let’s hope we have something else to celebrate this weekend.” He might have been hinting at a podium finish, but after a rain-plagued FP1 session, he is just wishing that the race is dry and sunny.

Fernando Alonso said, as quoted by Marca, that he regretted “The little time that we have all had after the rain in the first free practice. It is difficult to know how the track is when you start, what track conditions you find yourself in… In the dry, each driver ends up in the position they deserve.”

For this reason, he hopes that “the race will be in dry conditions. Given the time we had, we managed to do a lot of laps and have collected all the data we needed. So, we just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.”

Dismissing $300,000,000 Vital “Excuse”, Fernando Alonso & Co. Showcase Elite Mentality to Adapt to the Harsh Reality of F1

While Alonso wishes for a dry race, his teammate, Lance Stroll, has no such views. But he did agree with the point that the team has gathered the information that they need.

Lance Stroll Seconds Fernando Alonso as Aston Martin Gets Sufficient Insights Into Car Performance

Compared to Alonso, Lance Stroll has been underutilizing AMR23’s capabilities. In the wet in FP1, Stroll was quicker than his World Champion teammate. But in the dry in FP2, Alonso was quicker than Stroll. Maybe that’s why the Spaniard is wishing for a dry race. But both of them agreed with the fact that Aston Martin got what they needed in the dry FP2 session.

“The rain has endured and we have been able to do a good number of laps and work on a good part of the program,” said Stroll. “I think there are still some changes we can make before qualifying, so we’re going to work through our learnings tonight and look forward to tomorrow.”

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Watch This Story: Fernando Alonso revives tradition, ends 4-week drought, celebrates triumph

The 2-time Champion secured his 1st victory at the Hungarian GP. And 20 years later, he returns to the same track with a car that is well-suited for the track. Have the stars aligned for his much-awaited 33rd victory?