After a whistle-stop venture to North America, Formula One returned to Europe, for Round 11 of the Championship, hosted at the very picturesque setting of the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Nestled in the Styrian hills, the track’s short 4.3- kilometre layout demands precision, traction and straight-line efficiency, with lap times taking just over a minute. Despite its brief length, it presents a stern challenge with nine corners, undulating elevation changes and ample opportunities for overtaking, due to there being three DRS zones. After points finishes for Alonso at the last two Grands Prix, in Montreal and Barcelona, the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team were aiming to secure a points finish for both drivers by ensuring the AMR25, that has shown flashes of promise, could be competitive on a power-sensitive circuit.
It was a normal race weekend and both Aston Martin drivers headed out early at the start of FP1 on Friday to gather vital setup data. After the first 15 minutes Alonso was looking comfortable, in P7 and Stroll was P10. 15 minutes later, at the halfway point, both cars had been fitted with hard tyres and at the end his first lap on them Alonso spun round on the exit of the final corner. It seemed that the rear tyres may not have been warm enough and lacked grip as he wasn't going very fast and the back just spun round. Alonso took time to settle in again and regain his confidence, as when only 15 minutes remained Stroll was P12 and Alonso was in P13. At the end of the session both had slid down a place, Stroll to P13 and Alonso to P14, 1/100th of a second behind his team-mate. In the second session, FP2, Stroll emerged with the stronger pace again, going 11th fastest after 15 minutes, with Alonso two places behind him. Stroll then really seemed to put the hammer down, as at the halfway stage he had set the 3rd fastest time, while Alonso was only 9th. Stroll remained competitive for the rest of the session and finished it in P4. Alonso though, was less comfortable, reporting that his car was bouncing around too much, but, even so, he finished inside the top 10, in P9. Both drivers seemed to be keen to get their final practice session underway the following morning - Stroll started his session on hard tyres, while Alonso was on mediums. But they both came back into the pit lane before finishing the lap, because they then switched over from the compounds they had been on. Then they pitted for fresh medium tyres and focused on collecting information. It was only after 18 minutes had passed that they set a representative time – an impressive P4 for Stroll and P5 for Alonso. Just after the halfway stage though, Alonso had dropped down to P14 and Stroll to P17. Then Stroll once again hauled himself up to P4, with just 15 minutes remaining and Alonso placed his AMR25 in P9. There followed a brief waving of yellow flags when Tsunoda had an off-track excursion and when the session ended, Stroll was 8th fastest and Alonso 12th. Lando Norris in a McLaren was fastest overall.
There was a 5 minute delay to the start of Qualifying later in the afternoon, due to an accident in the F2 race that had taken place prior and was still being cleaned up. When Q1 did get underway, Stroll headed out on soft tyres and placed his AMR25 P5. Alonso, as well as others, then headed out and after all the drivers had finished their first runs Stroll was 16th and Alonso, who almost lost it at turn 4, was only 19th! With 5 minutes to go our duo were 18th & 20th. Alonso then hauled himself up to an impressive P8, while Stroll could only manage 13th. Other cars behind Stroll improved their times and as a result, Stroll was eliminated – only P16. Alonso went through however, finishing 13th. On his first run in Q2, Alonso placed his car 13th, just before red flags stopped the session when Hamilton went wide at the last turn, started to mow the grass with the bottom of his Ferrari and set fire to the grass. The marshals had to be called upon to put it out and the session was back underway again shortly. All the remaining drivers headed out for their last lap and Alonso put himself in P9, seemingly secure. But nail-bitingly, he got pushed out by Bortoleto and then Gasly, meaning no Aston Martins would take part in Q3. The final qualifying session just demonstrated that Norris in the McLaren was in a league of his own, setting a pole lap time that was half a second ahead of Leclerc, followed by Piastri, Hamilton and Russell.
As the lights went out to let the cars go for the formation lap a calamity emerged at the back of the grid. Sainz’s Williams just couldn’t get going and the start process was aborted. Polesitter Norris was already coming down the start finish straight just as Sainz finally managed to get going. The race start procedure was reset and a 10 minute countdown was restarted. As Sainz completed his ‘formation lap’ he pulled into the pits and as he cruised down the pit lane, his Williams caught fire from overheated rear brakes. The Williams was a mess and Sainz had to get out of the car, his race over. Whilst waiting for the restart Alonso was reporting that his seat was reaching uncomfortable levels — describing it as “200 degrees.” 6 minutes later the second formation lap was underway followed by the race start. Off the start, the power of the Mclarens showed clearly – Norris was able to maintain his position and Piastri overpowered Leclerc and moved up to P2. Then, around the next corner, chaos struck again. Antonelli, in the Mercedes, misjudged his braking, was too late on them, locked up and slammed into Verstappen, taking both of them out of the race. The Safety Car was immediately deployed. For Aston Martin, this was a fortunate break, as the incident removed two top-tier threats and provided a significant boost to the team’s chances of scoring points. As the remaining cars settled under Safety Car conditions, Alonso was in P10, while Stroll, who had made gains off the start, was in P13. The debris from the Antonelli-Verstappen clash was soon cleared away and the race got back underway on lap 3. Off the restart both McLarens surged ahead in a battle for the lead that would last for the entire race. The Aston Martins, however, would be involved in their own midfield battles and progress. Alonso set about closing on Hulkenberg and Stroll was chasing Ocon. On lap 10, the AM pair got an early break, when Gasly came in for his first pit stop, which promoted Alonso to P9 and Stroll to P12. The pattern continued as Albon and Colapinto also pitted — Alonso moving up to P8, Stroll to P10. Tsunoda, though, in the much faster Red Bull, passed Stroll on lap 15, after a scrap that included wheel-to-wheel contact, which was noted by the Stewards. The overtake seemed wasteful though, as Tsunoda had to pit, as did Russell, which moved Alonso up to P7 and Stroll to P9. And when Ocon pitted on lap 20 and Bortoleto a lap later, Alonso edged up to P6 and Stroll to P7. That positioning was short-lived, as Hadjar and Russell, both on fresher tyres, managed to get past Stroll. Meanwhile, Leclerc and Hamilton, who had also pitted and rejoined behind Alonso, wasted little time in recovering positions. Leclerc overtook Alonso on Lap 27, followed by Hamilton a lap later. Meanwhile, with it being clear that the tyres on the AMR25s were nearing the end of their usefulness, Stroll pitted and rejoined in P16, the last of the cars still running. On lap 30 Alonso was still running in P6 and within a second of Lawson ahead. When Lawson pitted, Alonso briefly moved up to P5 before needing to make his own stop, switching to hard tyres and rejoining in P12 at the halfway stage of the race, with Stroll in P15. It became evident that Aston Martin had decided on a one-stop strategy for Alonso, stretching the first stint as long as possible before bringing him in and putting on tyres that would take him to the end of the race. Alonso now went about utilising his fresh tyres to the best efficiency. In that endeavour he was helped when Gasly came in for his second stop, helping Alonso move up to P11 and then he also cleared Colapinto shortly after. By Lap 40, Alonso was back in the top 10 and within a second of Lawson again, while Stroll had recovered to P12. With the battling McLarens now in his mirrors, having carved through the field behind him, Stroll had to give way to the leaders. Now, those drivers on two-stop strategies, including Russell, were having to come in, allowing Alonso to gain positions. Stroll wasn’t faring so well and was passed by Bearman, to drop the Canadian to P13. Alonso then benefited from Bortoleto and Ocon making stops, rising to P6 once again. However, Russell, on fresher rubber, reeled Alonso in and made the move stick on lap 55, displacing our matador to P7. At the end of the same lap Stroll made his second stop, rejoining at the back of the grid, in P16, again. Alonso continued to pile on the pressure on Lawson for P6 but just couldn’t close the gap enough, even with the benefit of DRS. With less than 10 laps to go, Stroll overtook Tsunoda to climb to P15, then passed Colapinto for P14, showing a late burst of pace. As the final laps unfolded and with less than 5 to go, Alonso dropped out of DRS range of Lawson and started to come under threat of getting passed by his protégé, Bortoleto, but managed to hold him off, due to the benefit of both drivers having to let the battling McLarens through, again! Norris went on to take the chequered flag and win the race, 2.7 seconds ahead of Piastri and then Leclerc. Alonso finished P7, securing six valuable points. Stroll came home in P14.
The race seemed to mark a step forward for Aston Martin. Alonso’s second seventh-place finish earned the team their third consecutive points-scoring result and brought him level on points with Stroll in the Drivers’ Championship. In the Constructors’ Championship, Aston Martin are just 1 point behind Haas for 7th place. After the race Alonso commented: "I'm really happy to finish P7 today. Our one-stop strategy worked really well. I was unsure about it this morning because of the heat, but it paid off and the team made the right decision. I was able to use DRS throughout the race and I was a bit lucky in the final laps – one more lap would have been too much. It's great to end a tough weekend on a high, and the team's hunger is clear to see. Let's carry this momentum into Silverstone next week." Stroll added: "We knew coming here it was going to be a difficult weekend. We showed some early signs of decent pace in Free Practice but couldn't keep the momentum with the hotter temperatures over the rest of the weekend. It was always going to be challenging starting the race so far back today, but I also struggled with tyre degradation early on and we had to adapt our strategy because of that. We will have to look into it and use the coming days to prepare for Silverstone where we go again next week."
Indeed, the next race is at Silverstone, this coming weekend, Aston Martin’s, very much, home Grand Prix. Let’s hope that the team heads there with renewed momentum.