Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin “missed the opportunity” after poorly timed pitstops

Fernando Alonso finished eighth at the Dutch Grand Prix, leaving him wondering what could have been after a difficult race. Starting 10th, the Aston Martin had the pace to challenge further up the pack, but a poorly timed safety car cost the team vital points.

The two-time champion was unhappy with the team’s choices as he talked to the media following the race, explaining the reasoning behind his angry radio call.

“I think we missed the opportunity for us,” Alonso admitted. “I think the car had some good pace today in the race, but yeah, 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”.

The Spaniard vented his frustration at what he believed to be the wrong strategy regarding the timing of his pitstops. 

“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.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Clive Rose / Getty Images

“And I felt that the car had more pace, so I wanted to do something different than the others and try to overtake them and yeah, we overtook at the end one Red Bull and one Haas and the other Haas finished in front of us.

“So they were lucky a little bit with the last safety car and we were lucky also with the retirements and the penalty of Kimi [Antonelli]. If not, we were not in the points, so we need to be aware of that.”

Despite the disappointing result, Alonso has confidence in the performance shown in his car today.

“I think we’ve been significantly faster than some of the cars that finished in front of us, like the Williams and the Haas. So, yeah, I don’t know. Albon, he finished P5 or P6, so I think that P5 was very possible with our pace today.”

With an exciting end to the double-header coming next week at Monza, Alonso hopes to try again at Ferrari’s home race. 

“Let’s try in Monza again,” he said. 

Photos from Dutch GP – Race