F1 News: Aston Martin Chief Reveals Huge Milestone Achievement Following Dutch GP
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has revealed a massive milestone that the team achieved during the Dutch Grand Prix thanks to Fernando Alonso's second-place finish.
The Spanish driver took the second spot on the podium after the dramatic and chaotic race in Zandvoort as well as getting the extra point for the fastest lap, taking home a total of 19 points for the British team.
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This took the team to a total of 215 points marking the first time that Aston Martin has breached the 200 point mark. In the post-race round-up for the team, Krack commented on Alonso's fantastic performance. He explained:
"What a race! A fantastic second place for Fernando and the team. Fernando delivered a well-judged race, survived the tricky conditions, and showed strong pace in the wet and the dry.
"This result will mean a huge amount to the entire team at track and back at the Campus, and shows our hard work is paying off.
"It means we have broken the 200-point barrier for the first time and gives us real momentum going into the final races of the year."
Moving on to comment on Lance Stroll's race, which wasn't cause for the same celebrations, Krack explained what cost him a chance of scoring points. The Canadian driver started the race from eleventh place on the grid and crossed the line to finish in the same position. Krack continued:
It is a shame we did not optimise the race for Lance and the decision to remain on dry tyres in the early stages cost him a chance of scoring points."
Speaking about his own race, Stroll reflected:
"It wasn't the race we were hoping for today. The changing weather conditions made it very challenging to make the right strategy call and we just didn't make the right tyre decisions in the opening few laps.
"We'd hoped to survive the first downpour on the slick tyres, but the rain was heavier than expected and we switched to the Intermediate compound a little too late. Once the running order had stabilised, I found myself stuck in traffic and struggled to make any progress.
"It's disappointing as the car was performing well and I think more was possible, but that's racing sometimes. We'll learn from today's mistakes and push hard again in Monza."