Alonso's Relief at Monza, Aston Martin F1 Outperforms

Aston Martin F1’s Monza outing surpasses expectations, with Alonso finding solace in an 11th-place finish against feared odds.

Crossing the finish line and learning he was in 11th place, Fernando Alonso felt reassured to have performed better than expected. The Aston Martin F1 driver indeed revealed that his team feared they would be further away from the top 10 this morning.

“Every lap you do at Monza is somewhat random. You can change one thing and go faster. We were a bit worried before qualifying; our calculations after free practice had us as the seventh or eighth strongest. Being 11th is a good position, but we need to understand how to reach the top 10, our goal,” Alonso stated.

He anticipates a tougher battle in tomorrow’s race: “Qualifying has been our strong point this year, and the car is ready for the tyres, we have a good DRS, and it’s been a good day. But tomorrow will pose a bigger challenge if we aim to overtake cars.”

Lance Stroll was eliminated in Q1 as he had to abort his fast lap due to Kevin Magnussen’s exit at the Parabolica: “I got the yellow flags, and it cost me my second lap,” declared the Canadian, who gave a negative assessment of his Saturday: “Not great, we’ve been behind all weekend, so we’ll see tomorrow.”