Fernando Alonso has more questions for Aston Martin: “We have to be careful”

Fernando Alonso finished 7th in the F1 Dutch GP classificationthat achieved a better result than expected before starting the weekend and that was already signed on Thursday and even a few minutes before starting a classification that was a challenge for the pilots due to the strong wind that hit the track, with gusts that arrive without warning , when you least expect it, and can ruin anyone’s comeback.

In that sense, Fernando Alonso He knew exactly what message to send. Another driver, perhaps, puffed out his chest and highlighted the three tenths he got in the last sector than his teammate, or the fact that he passed all parts of the ‘quality‘ on a difficult, complex route that leaves no room for error and has very little data due to the weekend’s changing conditions. He might have scored the goal. But he preferred to talk about luck. There is nothing about taking advantage of your good time and maximizing the result, and we should never forget that Alonso He said on Thursday that he was aiming for 9th or 10th at this track with an Aston Martin that has a lot of room for improvement. The celebration of that good result seems to be a symptom of relaxation, of joy. Not really. Yes, he was satisfied with that, but his message was repeated elsewhere: “You don’t need to rest.”

Fernando Alonso gave all the credit for his great last lap to “luck” and the wind in a classification he described as a “lottery.”“. The man from Oviedo made sure that he benefited from not encountering a gust of wind in turns 9 and 10, managing to get a good time there to move up to 7th place. And soon after, it was clear that th -7 place is not due to the car , that the other rivals have developed more and that it is necessary for Aston Martin to bring the pieces loud and clear.

“Every lap with a gust of wind that you have, the car is going to be a lot ahead or a lot back. And I think in Q3 I had my lucky lap, where the wind might have died down a little bit and I could have made it th -7, which maybe “This is a better result than what I painted a few minutes before,” he said.

IT DOESN’T DEPEND ON THE CAR

“Well, I think it’s more Spa, a circuit where you see the cars than in Zandvoort, which, especially with today’s conditions, I think was a bit like a lottery. Because during the second lap of Q1, I remembered that at turn 10 Almost I went into first gear and did the Rascasse-type curve in Monaco, at fifty per hour, and the wind did not leave me because it was tailing me with a gust of forty five kilometers per hour. I think it depends more on the car itself and we can’t think we are fast enough to be the same car in Q3.

ASTON MARTIN NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

I think we started the year in no man’s land. The big teams are a bit ahead, and we’re a bit ahead of the middle group, but now we’re in the middle of the group and we’re on the road behind Williams here from Alpine, who was faster than us at Spa, AlphaTauri, who He . We finished first in Hungary, so we are fully involved in that fight and therefore we have to continue improving the car.

He repeated it to corralito in English: “I was very happy with both cars in Q3, but I think at the same time Williams improved. They are very strong. Alpine made an improvement at Spa and Ocon was faster than us in the race and here Pierre is also doing a good job so we have to be careful and we can’t stop building the car because the midfield is getting tighter.

21 YEARS SINCE HIS FIRST SUCCESS

Twenty-one years in Formula One I like to drive and today is a good day, but it’s not a time trial to enjoy. Going to 9 and 10 is like a lottery.”

I CAN’T REMOVE ANYTHING FROM THE CAR

Nope. The truth is, as I say, in turns 9 and 10, where the wind was very strong, I did well, and the other corners were also acceptable. And when I cross the finish line you don’t know if you’re 10th, 5th, or 7th, but well, it doesn’t really matter to me, because this is what I have now and I’m happy with it. And in the end, well, it served me well for a 7th place which gives us a chance to get points tomorrow, but also being realistic… it’s been a regular weekend, where we suffered. Williams is on par with us, if not better, with the new aero package and Albon, who is behind us, is hard to keep up with. I think there’s a Ferrari behind and a Mercedes, which under normal conditions we can’t keep up with either. So we’re fighting for ninth and tenth behind the big four and hopefully the two Aston Martins (in points).

OVERHEADS

He will advance a little, but he advances. We have seen this in other years as well. Last year I also lost some positions in the first stop, when Gasly was second, it seemed to me, or something like that, and then you get to Gasly and in two or three laps, then you catch up with him. You have to be a little more patient than other circuits, but you make progress. And tomorrow we will also enter a little unknown territory, because doing the first day with sun and blue sky, high temperature, more wear on the tires and with a good strategy and a good speed of the race , you will eventually come out on top. I think that’s what we have to accept with Ferrari, with Mercedes, but we will try to fight, yes, more aggressively with Williams and with Alpine.

A CIRCUIT MORE FOR THE HANDS THAN A SPA

It is a narrow, short, intense, bumpy circuit and often very windy. Zandvoort always tends to have onshore winds. Every year we race here there is a lot of wind and these F1s, which are based entirely on aerodynamics, are more critical when driving. The spa is a long circuit, seven kilometers long, and even if you fail at one corner you can make it up, right? So, there’s the car, because it rules a little more.