“All in all, I think we managed to save a very difficult weekend,” said Fernando Alonso after seventh place in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Because in terms of pure pace, P7 would probably not have been possible in the Aston Martin.
“We weren’t fast enough in any session of the weekend, and that was no different in the race,” Alonso clarifies. Aston Martin had problems with the pace and in the end it was only the good strategy that made this result possible.
“At the beginning we tried to extend the stint to medium and then there was a safety car,” explains Alonso, who had not yet been in the pits at the time and was given a “free” stop, which gave him some brought positions forward.
Because before Charles Leclerc came into the pits as the first driver from the top 10, Alonso was only eighth. After the safety car period he was sixth and only had to give up one position to Sergio Perez in the Red Bull in the closing stages.
“We have [beim Boxenstopp] opted for the soft because there were only a few laps left to go. I think it was a good strategy,” says Alonso and praises: “Thanks to all these decisions, we got seventh place, which is maybe a bit above the pace we had.”
Formula 1: Alonso remains “relaxed”
After Spielberg a week ago, Silverstone was again “one of the worst weekends” of the season for Aston Martin, according to Alonso, who nevertheless emphasizes that he is “relaxed” and will not panic about it now.
“If someone else is faster than us, there’s nothing we can do,” he shrugs and explains that you just have to understand it and learn from it. He also remembers: “Two races ago in Canada we were fighting for victory.”
“So it’s not like we were on the podium in the first races and then fell back,” he clarifies and emphasizes: “To be honest, I’m not stressing about the further development. The car is better than expected in this one Year.”
“We’re fighting for things that we probably couldn’t even dream of at the beginning of the year, so if we can now stay in the top 10 and fight with the top guys, that’s great,” said Alonso, who explained: “We have to be pragmatic and very relaxed with our performance.”
But it is also clear that the current trend is against Alonso, who was on the podium five times in the first six races of the season. In the following four races, he only managed to do that once. Nevertheless, he emphasizes that one must keep “the long-term picture” in mind.
Several other teams have recently brought “some significant upgrades”, and the results were also partly track-specific. “Hopefully we’ll be competitive again in Hungary,” said Alonso, who is still third in the Drivers’ Championship.
Formula 1: Aston Martin continues third in team championship
Aston Martin is also still third in the Constructors and although McLaren had a strong weekend at Silverstone, Alonso emphasizes: “They are very fast. But they are lying [in der WM] a lot of points behind so we should have enough pace to keep them at bay.”
In fact, Aston Martin is still 122 points ahead of McLaren and Alonso doesn’t think his former team will be ‘always on the podium’ from now on. Because behind Red Bull it is so close that the chasing teams always have to divide the points among themselves.
It is therefore “difficult” to start a “big series”, according to Alonso. “But of course we have to keep an eye on them. And with Mercedes and Ferrari it will be tight until the end,” knows the Spaniard, who nevertheless decided against fighting Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone.
The record world champion was initially behind Alonso in the starting phase, but passed him quite quickly. Alonso explains: “They were faster all weekend. When he was behind me I knew it wasn’t worth defending for too long. He had more pace.”
In Hungary, the tide should turn again when it comes to Alonso. If that doesn’t work, it wouldn’t be the end of the world for him either.