Aston Martin, Alonso: “Good weekend for me”

Two-faced Japanese GP forAston Martin: Fernando Alonso confirmed his excellent qualifying, finishing sixth after starting from fifth, while Lance Stroll did not score any points, paying a heavy price for his elimination in Saturday’s Race One.

Alonso: “One of the best weekends for a while”

He was the inspiration of the team once again Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was afraid to lose several positions compared to the starting position, but in the end he kept behind Oscar Piastri and Mercedes without much worry, only to be overtaken by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The two-time world champion is very pleased with the results achieved in the race where Aston Martin’s first improvement package debuted: “It was a good weekend for me, while they took fifth place in yesterday’s qualifying and sixth place in the competition. It was one of my best in a while. I think this weekend we slightly exceeded our actual positionbut this season we are doing our race very well and we are getting good points for the team“.

The good work done by the team was also fundamental to the result, at the pit stops and in the strategic choices, despite the fact that the red flag shown immediately after the start of the accident between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo was somewhat damaged. the result of the original idea of ​​starting with a soft tire: “Our plan today worked well and special thanks go to pit stops that were really interesting, so kudos to the whole team for that. We still have to analyze our update package, we will check all our data before we go back to Shanghai“. At the end of the race Alonso used all his experience to form the train, giving the DRS to Piastri to allow the Australian to defend against the trickier George Russell. A completely successful program, without controversial episodes such as those that cost him the controversial punishment in the previous Australian Doctor Who.

Walk: “Disappointing not to finish in the mark”

There is nothing to do instead Walking the Lance, whose race had already been severely hampered by a sixteenth place finish. Aston Martin tried to upstage the Canadian with an aggressive approach that saw him fit soft tires at the end of the race to try to get back into the points: “It was a tough race today. Starting in sixteenth place meant we had a solid strategy and we struggled to find fresh air. We also lacked the line speed we needed. I made a good pass at Turn 6 though, so the race was fun. We expected to catch Tsunoda in tenth placebut the soft tires lost grip towards the end, so it was disappointing not to finish in the points.“.

Krack: “Updates seem like a good move”

Alonso’s eight points allow Aston Martin to stay with Mercedes in the Constructors’ standings, just one point behind. The final balance of the Suzuka weekend has been organized by the team principal Mike Crack: “Sixth place was the best we had today, it’s a solid result. The updates we have brought seem to be a good step and we were able to finish ahead of our nearest rival, Mercedes, and returned home with eight points. Fernando drove very well and the team made flawless and consistent stops. Lance was battling Tsunoda who started six places ahead of him on the grid after qualifying. He fought well and managed to get past the Snake“.