Fernando Alonso “saved” Aston Martin after difficult Dutch GP weekend, says Guenther Steiner

Agosto 31, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes Fernando Alonso is solely responsible for Aston Martin’s points finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Aston Martin arrived at Zandvoort with a highly anticipated power unit upgrade package from its engine partner Honda, following other major car upgrades in the form of a B-spec car at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Armed with the upgrades, Lance Stroll and Alonso finished the sprint race 17th and 18th, respectively, and qualified 18th and 19th for the grand prix. While Stroll was forced to retire from the Dutch Grand Prix due to damage sustained during a chaotic opening lap when Max Verstappen crashed, Alonso executed an aggressive one-stop strategy to claim ninth place.

The finish secured two valuable points for the team, tripling its tally for the year so far.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner suggested the result was down to the two-time champion’s brilliance behind the wheel rather than the improvement in the car.

“After what I saw on Friday and Saturday in sprint qualifying and the sprint, I was like, ‘Wow, I think we overreacted a little bit to their resurgence.’ And then also the qualifying on Saturday for the race, like, ‘Wow, this is not going the right way,'” Steiner explained.

“This was a Fernando special here, doing it with one stop. That saved them. He could keep a decent pace, and what helps them at the moment is that there are really now three backmarker teams, which are far off everyone.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

Aston Martin currently sits 10th in the constructors’ championship with three points, all earned by Alonso, who is 19th in the drivers’ standings.

Alonso congratulated the team on its upgrades following the race, but added that Aston Martin and Honda still need some time to fine-tune the changes.

“In general, we’re still not in the place we want to be in terms of driveability. The downshifts and engine braking seem a little bit random, corner by corner,” the Spaniard told Sky Sports F1.

“So we still need to fine-tune it and, with the deficit on power, we still lose a lot on the straights. So now that we are more or less competitive in the corners, we need to improve that. But we are trying to do all this together.

“We need to give time to Honda as well to figure out what the problem is and where to fix it. So I’m happy, I’m relaxed. I trust both Silverstone and Sakura.”