Alonso finishes P9 at the Dutch GP to score two points
ZandvoortThe Dutch Grand Prix, Round 12 of the Formula 1 season, took place at Circuit Zandvoort.
At 3:00pm local time, the race got under way with an air temperature of 18°C, a track temperature of 33°C and humidity at 62%, with some damp patches remaining on the circuit.
Fernando Alonso started on Soft tyres from P18 on the inside of the grid and made a good getaway, but found himself boxed in at Turn 1 and was unable to gain any positions. Lance Stroll, meanwhile, started from P19 and overtook several cars around the outside at Turn 1 to move up to P17. Alonso then passed Stroll at Turn 7, swapping the order of the two cars.
As the battles with the Haas drivers continued, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) crashed at the final corner and the race was red-flagged.
The race resumed with a standing start, with Alonso restarting from P14 and Stroll from P17. They then fought for position with the Haas, Audi and Williams drivers.
On Lap 15, Stroll pitted to switch from Soft to Hard tyres, dropping to the back of the field and beginning his recovery drive.
Alonso, meanwhile, continued at a consistent pace while managing his tyres and climbed to P8. He pitted on Lap 34 to switch from Soft to Hard tyres, rejoining in P13.
At Turn 1 on Lap 39, Alonso dived down the inside of Alexander Albon (Williams) to complete the overtake and move up to P11. He then maintained his position, before Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) pitted for tyres on Lap 45 and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) did the same on Lap 47, promoting Alonso to P9.
Stroll, who had been struggling for pace, pitted at the end of Lap 45 and was brought into the garage to retire from the race.
Alonso set his fastest lap of the race, a 1m16.946s, on Lap 59. He held his position to the chequered flag, completing the 72-lap race on a one-stop strategy and finishing P9. It was his second points finish of the season, earning him two points.
It's great to finish in the points here in Zandvoort. I wasn’t expecting it, so it’s a credit to the team for maximising everything we had. We still have some driveability issues, but this weekend is another step forward. We’ll take this momentum and keep pushing to get the most out of the car.
It's great to finish in the points here in Zandvoort. I wasn’t expecting it, so it’s a credit to the team for maximising everything we had. We still have some driveability issues, but this weekend is another step forward. We’ll take this momentum and keep pushing to get the most out of the car.
We picked up some damage early on, which compromised the performance of the car. We had no pace and were sliding around a lot, so we stopped early for the hard tyre, but unfortunately nothing helped. There’s still a lot of work to do to improve the driveability of the car.
We picked up some damage early on, which compromised the performance of the car. We had no pace and were sliding around a lot, so we stopped early for the hard tyre, but unfortunately nothing helped. There’s still a lot of work to do to improve the driveability of the car.
After the red flag, we fitted Fernando with a fresh set of Softs and, with good management, he was able to run almost half the race on those tyres. That set up an effective one-stop race, which we felt was our best chance of finishing in the points. It was only in the final few laps that Fernando came under pressure from Gasly, but we had the pace to hold on for P9 and two important points. Lance was suffering with a handling issue – which we suspect could have been caused by picking up some car damage – and we had to retire the car. The points scored today are a valuable reward for everyone’s efforts, and I would like to say thank you to the whole team at Silverstone, who have worked so hard to improve our performance in recent months.
After the red flag, we fitted Fernando with a fresh set of Softs and, with good management, he was able to run almost half the race on those tyres. That set up an effective one-stop race, which we felt was our best chance of finishing in the points. It was only in the final few laps that Fernando came under pressure from Gasly, but we had the pace to hold on for P9 and two important points. Lance was suffering with a handling issue – which we suspect could have been caused by picking up some car damage – and we had to retire the car. The points scored today are a valuable reward for everyone’s efforts, and I would like to say thank you to the whole team at Silverstone, who have worked so hard to improve our performance in recent months.
First of all, both new spec 2 engines ran the Dutch Grand Prix weekend without any major reliability issues. We know that there is room to improve our driveability and this remains paramount for us looking ahead to the next races.
Scoring two points is a good result, especially considering the workload to introduce the spec 2 engine this weekend.
During the closing stages of the race, we focused on trying to maintain the gap behind to Gasly and we optimised our energy management strategy to help enable us to do this. This is a good result, and we will focus on the improvements moving forward.
First of all, both new spec 2 engines ran the Dutch Grand Prix weekend without any major reliability issues. We know that there is room to improve our driveability and this remains paramount for us looking ahead to the next races.
Scoring two points is a good result, especially considering the workload to introduce the spec 2 engine this weekend.
During the closing stages of the race, we focused on trying to maintain the gap behind to Gasly and we optimised our energy management strategy to help enable us to do this. This is a good result, and we will focus on the improvements moving forward.
©Getty