Following a double points finish in Hungary before the summer break, Aston Martin has once again scored well in Zandvoort. Despite a challenging weekend, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll managed to score points – points that the team desperately needs in the battle for fifth place in the constructors’ championship.
Unpredictable Weekend
Aston Martin seemed to continue its upward trend from Hungary in Zandvoort. Earlier this season, the team was very strong at the Hungaroring, a track that has many similarities with Zandvoort. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Aston Martin is scoring many points again, but the past weekend was not easy.
In the first free practice, both Aston Martins found themselves in the top 4. An excellent start to the weekend. However, in the second free practice, Lance Stroll lost control in the Hugenholtz corner (turn 3) and ended up hard in the tire stack. His session was immediately over. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, managed to secure a commendable second place in the second free practice. When asked about his chances for this weekend, Alonso said: “Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull don’t seem too far away, so we’ll try to keep up with them.”
On Saturday, Aston Martin was unable to maintain the pace from Friday. While Stroll and Alonso were still in the top 10 in the third free practice, they were not as fast as they had shown on Friday. While the competitors clearly made a step towards qualification, Aston Martin could not make that leap.
In Q1, things went wrong again for Lance Stroll. The Canadian steered a bit too wide, got his left wheels on the grass, and lost control of his AMR24 in turn 13, hitting the wall – his second crash of the weekend. Teammate Fernando Alonso managed to fight his way to Q3 and eventually set the tenth time. Not a bad result, but after the promising Friday, the Spaniard was visibly disappointed. “If you finish last in Q3, P10 is not the best starting position,” Alonso told F1TV. “We need to be better tomorrow.”
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View the footage of the crash here:
Aston Martin Recovers
After a promising Friday and a disappointing Saturday, Aston Martin managed to bounce back on Sunday. Both Aston Martin drivers had a race full of ups and downs. Stroll had to start from the back and made an early pit stop after contact with Bortoleto. Fernando Alonso disagreed with the strategy chosen by the team. Thanks to multiple safety cars, Stroll moved up to the top ten. Although it looked like he would only make one stop, Aston Martin decided to make another stop during a late safety car. This strategy worked out well: Stroll secured an excellent seventh place and his teammate Alonso finished in eighth place. Both benefited from the penalty for Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
With a double points finish, Aston Martin did exactly what they needed to do to stay in the fight with Racing Bulls and Haas. The pace from Friday may have seemed to disappear, but on Sunday the team was there exactly when it needed to be.
