Alonso: Silverstone P7 'a bit higher' than Aston pace
Fernando Alonso believes that his seventh-place finish in the British Grand Prix slightly flattered Aston Martin's real pace at Silverstone.
Alonso qualified ninth on Saturday but gained a position on the race's opening lap. The Spaniard eventually spent the remainder of his race among the top-seven, finishing P7 at the checkered flag.
It was a relatively uneventful afternoon for the seven-time world champion who relied on a medium-to-soft tyre strategy to achieve a result that reflected the limited pace displayed by Aston over the weekend.
"Yes, we weren’t fast enough in any session on the weekend, so it was not different in the race," Alonso said.
"We struggled a little bit with the pace, but we maximised the strategy, we tried to stretch the stint on the Medium at the beginning, and then there was a Safety Car, we chose the Soft, because it was just short run to the end.
"I think it was a good strategy and thanks to all those calls I think we took seventh place that maybe a little bit higher than the pace that we had."
Aston has lost ground to its direct rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari, since Austria and must now also contend with the ambitions of a resurgent McLaren team.
Alonso reckoned that there was a blend of reasons for Team Silverstone's recent underperformance, but overall Aston should be happy to come away from its home race with a P7.
"As we said yesterday, probably is a little bit of everything," he explained.
"Outdeveloped a little bit in terms of few teams brought some significant upgrades lately. Track specific, I think here was not our best layout for the package that we have. We need to see also the tyres, obviously the first race that we have this new construction.
"So, things that maybe we need to analyse more in detail but, all in all, I think we saved a very difficult weekend. Hopefully in Hungary we are again competitive."
McLaren's remarkable step forward has now made the team a force to be reckoned with Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston. But Alonso doubts his former outfit will catch-up with the trio in the Constructors' standings.
"They are very fast," he said. "But they are a lot of points behind, so we should have enough pace to keep the distance with them.
"Also, it’s not that they will be always in the podium. You know, we are dividing all the points between all of us, so it’s difficult always to have a big run on anyone, so, with McLaren maybe in the Constructors we have enough advantage.
"But, obviously, we need to keep an eye. And with Mercedes and Ferrari things are going to be tight until the end.
"But this was with Austria one of the worst weekends I think for us so far and we saved quite well."
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