Fernando Alonso left Zandvoort on Sunday with more frustration than satisfaction, convinced he and Aston Martin had squandered what could have been a sizeable points haul in Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The two-time world champion started 10th and came home eighth, collecting points but lamenting strategy calls, poor timing with Safety Cars, and what he branded as his “fucking luck” over the radio in a message that captured his exasperation.
Alonso admitted he saw fifth place as realistic, given his pace relative to the cars ahead. Instead, he finished one place behind teammate Lance Stroll, who had started at the back but used better fortune with Safety Cars to climb to seventh.
“I think we missed the opportunity for us,” Alonso said. “The car had some good pace today in the race, but we were unlucky with the safety cars in the wrong time and the wrong place and we could not optimise our two sets of hard tyres, comparing our opposition.
“I think on the first stop I’m not sure it was the best thing where we pit it and the strategy we opted for. And in the second I was just worried that we would just stay behind for the whole race and do the same as the others.
“I felt that the car had more pace, so I wanted to do something different than the others and try to overtake them. At the end we overtook one Red Bull and one Haas, but the other Haas finished in front of us.
“They were lucky a little bit with the last Safety Car and we were lucky also with retirements and penalties. If not, we were not in the points.”
For Alonso, the math was simple: “I think we’ve been significantly faster than some of the cars that finished in front of us, like the Williams and the Haas. Albon finished P5 or P6, so I think that P5 was very possible with our pace today.”
Timing Turns Against Alonso
Alonso’s race was largely shaped by pit stop timing. He pitted on lap 18, only for Lewis Hamilton to crash shortly after, triggering a Safety Car that allowed rivals a cheaper stop.
Stroll, who had been at the rear, gained significantly, while Alonso found himself shuffled back.
The Spaniard’s woes compounded when Yuki Tsunoda overtook him on the restart, forcing him to trail the Red Bull for over a dozen laps. Though Alonso pushed for an early second stop to escape traffic, it again dropped him to the back, leaving him to rejoin the pack just before another caution.
By the flag, Alonso salvaged eighth, but his body language and words made clear it felt like a missed podium chance.
Aston Martin’s Explanation
Aston Martin’s trackside chief Mike Krack acknowledged Alonso’s visible fury, but stressed the team had little control over the circumstances.
“He was angry with the race, he was angry with the world, he was angry with us, he is angry with everybody,” Krack admitted.
“Nothing we can do in these situations, we have to take it as it is and try to find the best solution with the new boundary conditions. The conditions have changed, now you have this, other people could stop in front.”
Krack explained the team had gambled early when rain was easing, aiming for an undercut.
“We knew that other people had less tyres than we had, so they had to stay out a bit longer and go through the rain.
“When we saw the rain was easing off, we said ‘OK, we can undercut’. You could see with Lance it was working. Lance gained a lot of positions by stopping very early there, so I think that was the right decision.”
Krack also pointed to a compromised practice programme that left Aston Martin flying somewhat blind on tyre wear and car setup on race day.
“You have the plank wear, and you have to be legal after the race,” Krack said.
“We didn’t do a lot of laps on Friday. Lance had the accident and Fernando did not do many long-run laps, so you are a little bit in unknown territory when it comes to the wear.
“So you have to take a bit more of a conservative approach. We had to do that and that is costing a bit of performance.”
Despite Alonso’s unhappiness, Aston Martin at least banked a double-points finish that keeps them sixth in the constructors’ standings.
Still, Racing Bulls closed the gap to just two points, adding further urgency to maximise opportunities in the final stretch of the season.
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