Aston Martin in dreamland as Fernando Alonso scores points for only the second time this season
Zandvoort went out with a bang as far as Aston Martin are concerned, as two-time world champion Fernando Alonso bagged two pivotal points in last Sunday’s main Grand Prix.
In what was the Dutch GP’s final edition for the foreseeable future, the Silverstone-based Aston Martin were the beneficiaries of a vintage Alonso drive and a genius strategy call.
The 72-lap race, highly demanding on the tyres, typically requires a two or three-stop strategy. But Alonso was only brought in once, gaining him vital free air throughout.
Quick in the slow corners but steady on the straights, Alonso benefited from not being stuck in traffic in his AMR26. In the end, the 45-year-old came home in an impressive P9.
Alonso revealed after the race that improvisation played a key role in claiming the two points, moving Aston Martin up to three for the 2026 season.
"That was not the plan," admitted Alonso. "I think the plan was two stops and to go more conventional.
"But we need to sometimes deviate a little bit from what is the normal things, as when we are in traffic, we cannot use our potential.
“We were faster in the corners than the people in front of us, we were slower on the straights, and we were stuck behind.
"So as soon as we had a free track in front of us, we tried to use it. Even if it's not the optimal performance and the optimal strategy, and it's what we did today."
The season-best result came on a weekend when the new Honda power unit upgrade was first used in the car. But it wasn’t the engine which propelled Alonso up the grid.
There were severe teething problems with the power unit in Sprint Qualifying, with Alonso reporting pushing under braking and the engine overdelivering at inconvenient moments.
Alonso also did not have the straight line mode available to him on the main straight, resulting in plenty of lost lap time.
The main qualifying session was a little better for Alonso and Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, as they qualified P18 and P19 – ahead of the two Cadillacs and Haas’ Ollie Bearman.
Alonso did make sure to stress there was at least a slight improvement from the new power unit. More performance is expected once the team gets used to the update.
Nonetheless, the two points scored - creating a three-point buffer to Cadillac - mark a major milestone in the campaign.
It might not sound like much of a difference finishing 10th instead of 11th, but it brings in an extra $9 million (£6.6m) in constructor capital, so it’s vital going forward.