Fernando Alonso "angry at the world, us, and everybody" after F1 Dutch GP - Mike Krack
Aston Martin's Alonso faced unfortunately-timed safety car hurdles between his best-laid strategy plans over the course of Formula 1's race at Zandvoort
The unfortunate timing between pitstops and the arrival of the safety cars during the Dutch Grand Prix left Fernando Alonso "angry with the world, us, and everybody", according to Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack.
Alonso's attempt to make progress from 10th on the grid was halted as he was mobbed by Alex Albon, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and Yuki Tsunoda in the opening corners of the first lap. Frozen in lockstep with the rest, as he sat within DRS range of the Mercedes, Alonso made his first stop at the end of lap 18.
This set him to the back of the field, although scant consolation emerged when he undercut Tsunoda as the Japanese driver stopped on the following lap. However, the timing of Lewis Hamilton's crash at Turn 3 offered the cars ahead of Alonso a much cheaper stop; as such, Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman ended up between Alonso and Antonelli amid the stops.
When Alonso was mugged by Tsunoda on the lap of the restart, he spent 13 laps staring at the Red Bull's rear wing before chivvying his team for a stop to get out of traffic. He went to the back of the field after his second stop and re-caught the pack a few laps before the second safety car.
This stop, and the subsequent decision to stay out for the final two safety cars, at least helped Alonso gather eighth place - but he felt more was possible if he hadn't stopped so early.
Krack explained the scenario, and felt the team could be absolved of Alonso's irritation given it could do little about the timing of accidents.
"He was angry with the race, he was angry with the world, he was angry with us, he is angry with everybody," Krack said.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
"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."
"We knew that other people had less tyres than we had, so they had to hang out, they had to stay out a bit longer and go through the rain.
"When we saw that the rain was easing off, we said 'OK, we can undercut, because we get maybe 3, 4, 5 laps' - and you could see with Lance it was working.
"Lance gained a lot of position by stopping very early there, so I think that was the right decision, but you can only do it if you have the tyres. At one point you think, 'can we go to the end or not?'. But we could see that the tyre degradation was high."
Krack explained that the team's lack of running on Friday had compromised its weekend, as it did not have a realistic representation of plank wear at its initial ride heights; Stroll crashed at Turn 3 in FP2, and Alonso did limited longer runs - running only four-to-five laps in a stint overall.
"You have the plank wear, and you have to be legal after the race. 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," Krack added.
"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."
Photos from Dutch GP - Race
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
Dutch GP - Sunday, in photos
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.- The Motorsport.com Team
Share Or Save This Story
How F1's planned 60-40 power split for 2027 will affect each manufacturer
Aston Martin's plans for F1 2026 after upgrade-free Miami
The intrigue sparked by Red Bull's Miami sidepod design
Aston Martin, Honda provide update on F1 power unit progress
Fernando Alonso takes delivery of $12million hypercar with matching baby seat
What's next for Aston Martin and Honda after torrid start to F1 2026?
Guenther Steiner: Aston Martin has "no excuse" for poor 2026 F1 season start
Guenther Steiner: Adrian Newey should have never taken the role of Aston Martin team principal
The one thing Aston Martin needs more than a new team principal in F1
Latest news
Scott McLaughlin pushing to avenge last year’s ‘embarrassing’ Indy 500 pace lap crash
Driver arrested and banned after ramming car in the pits, knocking over crew members
Louis Foster: Throwing a yellow doesn’t kill the race, NASCAR does it for fun
How victory in Portugal could have a bearing on Hyundai’s WRC future plans
Feature
How F1's planned 60-40 power split for 2027 will affect each manufacturer
"It's only going to get better" - How Audi is responding to rocky start to F1 2026
Inside the brain chemistry of F1 high performance
Are we at a turning point for Verstappen – and F1?
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Top Comments