Defying conventional two-stop tactics, the Spaniard leveraged a daring one-stop gamble and aerodynamic upgrades to snatch championship points, signaling a hard-fought resurgence for the evolving Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso achieved a spectacular ninth place at the Dutch Grand Prix, scoring two points for Aston Martin with a bold strategy that surprised everyone: "It wasn't the plan, I think the plan was to do two stops and be more conventional. But yes, sometimes we have to deviate a little from what is normal" admitted the Asturian after the race.
Alonso's strategy was key to his comeback, the Spaniard, who had started from a retarded position, opted for a one stop strategy that allowed him to climb positions: "When we are in traffic, we can't use our potential. We are faster in the corners than those ahead of us who are slower on the straights and we are stuck, so as soon as we have clear track ahead, we try to use it, even if it's not the optimal performance and the optimal strategy" admitted the Asturian after the race.
The AMR26 has shown significant improvement in recent races, especially after the introduction of the aerodynamic package in Hungary and the new Honda engine in Zandvoort: "I think another step forward, especially on the chassis side, we brought four or five components here and also the Budapest package was understood during the break and with all the data available after the race we fine tuned the setup a bit around that new specification, plus the new parts. I think we are now optimizing the chassis side and we are able to extract the maximum" stated Alonso.
Despite the progress, Alonso acknowledged that the engine remains an area for improvement: "On the engine, it's more difficult, I don't think we can be black or white if we have more power or not, from the driver's side you change circuits a month after the other race, so it's difficult. In terms of drivability, it's been a difficult weekend. We are struggling with the downshifts and with the engine braking corner by corner," he explained.
Alonso also referred to the difference in performance between circuits: "I think we scored a point in Monaco with nine retirements and today we scored two points, with Max's retirement. So I think it was well deserved, probably in Budapest we could have done a bit better and yes, it will depend circuit by circuit, depending on how many straights we have, so I don't expect to be competitive in Monza, but maybe on other circuits we will have another opportunity to be in the points" he stated.
Mike Krack, Aston Martin's trackside operations director, highlighted the team's progress: "We know this package more and more, I think we said with a big package that we introduced in Budapest that it would take us a few sessions to learn how to handle it and learn how to set it up and the same happens with the introduction of the power unit, now we need to learn how to use it, we need to learn how to optimize it and I think it will take us a couple of events. But it was a good step forward" he pointed out.
Alonso's result is a ray of hope for Aston Martin, which has had a complicated start to the season.
The British team trusts that the improvements to the car and Alonso's talent will allow them to score points more regularly in the second half of the season.
