Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin’s call to stop him only once in the Belgian GP was not planned – and it needed “a little bit of luck” to work.
Alonso was one of only five drivers to stop only once, along with original race winner George Russell, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and his own team mate Lance Stroll.
Alonso used the strategy to finish ninth on the road, which became eighth when Russell was disqualified for a weight infringement.
“We had the plans, as always, Plan B, Plan C, whatever,” said Alonso. “So we covered the one-stop and the three-stops. We were P12, and we were just waiting for a safety car, maybe to play in our hands.”
“And then 11 laps in the end, we started considering, ‘Okay, safety car is not coming, but maybe we go to the end?’
“So it was just being very flexible, and lap-by-lap, judging the conditions, and at the end, it was the right call. But let’s say it was not planned just to go for one-stop.”
Like Russell Alonso was able to make it work because degradation was not as bad as had been feared, and the tyres didn’t fall off a cliff.
“I think especially with the new asphalt, you sometimes get very low deg,” he said. “Or you get graining, you can have the two things. And today was one of those days. Maybe the temperature helped, to be a little bit hotter on Sunday.”
“We had a lot of graining on Friday, and we didn’t have any today, but I think no one could predict even the last five laps. If the degradation was not linear, and you have a big cliff, the strategy will not work. It’s a little bit of luck sometimes when you take these decisions.”
Alonso conceded that having track position by staying out and obliging two-stoppers to catch him helped the strategy to work, while his choice of a higher downforce level – which protected the tyres from sliding – was also key.
“It depends to the cars you’re fighting,” he said of track position. “In our case it was crucial, because the Williams and the Alpines, they were the two fastest cars [on the straights], and if you fall behind, the race is over.”
“So we underestimated a little bit that, but at the end our car thanks to the extra drag and downforce, maybe was taking care of the tyres a little bit better, and made it possible to do one-stop. So it was a trade-off, and I think it was the right call for us.”
Asked to review the first half of the season Alonso admitted that it hasn’t been what he had expected.
“A little bit disappointed,” he said. “We cannot hide the fact that we are fighting today, with Williams, RB and Alpine last year, we were looking maybe to the top four teams.”
“Now they are out of reach, and we are just defending from the guys behind. Even at the beginning of the year in qualifying, especially, we were always top five, top six, in the mix.
“So definitely a lot of work to do for us in the summer break, and the second part of the year. We will not give up.”
