With his sights set on Aston Martin’s home Grand Prix the following week in Silverstone, Fernando Alonso spoke to the media once his race in Austria had ended.
A dreadful weekend in Spielberg saw him finish P18 with a 10-second penalty, two penalty points in his superlicense after a collision with Zhou Guanyu, and the fastest lap of the race at the end.
“There is simply no points because you are out of the top 10, but we wanted to test the car with different tyres and with little fuel,” the two-time World Champion stated.
“It was a complicated race. We planned on three stops and we stopped very early. With Lance (Stroll) the plan was two stops, in case there was a Safety Car or a moment of luck in one of the two cars.
“I collided with Zhou, I had the penalty and then my race was forgotten. Nothing changes, instead of finishing 14th, you finished 17th. The points were out of reach today.
“I think it was better today than yesterday in terms of race pace. But when you start at the back, this group of cars in front of you, the tyre management becomes nearly impossible. And then you fall behind always.
“We need to qualify better, we need to have more pace.”
The Spaniard’s race was marked by a ten-second penalty and two penalty points to his superlicense (making it 8 overall). He tried to overtake Zhou while fighting for P13; the 25-year-old braked early as Ricciardo was passing him, the Spaniard braked late, locked up, and hit the Sauber at turn 3.
“Yeah, I mean, I made a mistake.” Alonso confessed after the race. “Obviously, I didn’t expect to lock up. And then when you lock up, it seems that you go on throttle because the car doesn’t have any more retardation.
“They [Zhou and the Racing Bull in the fight] brake extremely early. I think both were trying to maybe play the DRS catch or whatever. And then, yeah, my fault, my mistake. So, nothing I can do.”
When asked about his perspective on Aston Martin’s perspective in the future as a team, the Spaniard was reluctant to respond, pointing out that Mike Krack and Tom McCullough would have a press conference later on, and that they should be questioned about it.
“I don’t know. I drive the car.
“I have a very clear feeling. We need to get better for the next race. And about the details, I think it’s a very clear answer so, let’s try to get better for Silverstone.
“I think, especially in the next race, Silverstone is our home Grand Prix. It cannot be any other home Grand Prix than Silverstone for Aston Martin. So, we really need to perform better there.
“I’m reasonably optimistic that we can turn things around.”
Following his response that Aston Martin should improve the performance on Saturday, the Spaniard was asked if the classification in F1 is closer than ever, especially when a few years ago drivers qualified P4 or P5 in the tenths of differences in which today the competitors are kicked out of Q1.
Less than half a second covered the top 16 in the opening segment of Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
“Yeah, it is. I think the qualifying, especially when you put the new soft tyres, always give you a lot of grip for one lap. That big grip is masking some of the car performances. I think the real picture is more in the race than qualifying. In qualifying, everyone has the grip.
“So, it’s tight. And Q1 is probably one of the most stressful moments of the weekend, even for the top teams. Because there is no guarantee that we will go through.”
