"I'm relaxed" - Fernando Alonso unconcerned amidst lack of Silverstone pace

The Spaniard finished seventh with his teammate Lance Stroll outside the points, despite being Red Bull's closest competitors at the top earlier in the year.

While on the outside it seemed a disappointing result for the Silverstone based team in their home Grand Prix, Alonso felt P7 was the best he could’ve achieved: “We weren’t fast enough in any session on the weekend, so it was not different in the race.”

“We struggled a little bit with the pace but we maximised the strategy. I think it was a good strategy, and thanks to all those calls we took seventh place which was maybe a little bit higher than the pace that we had.”

Undoubtedly, the story of the weekend was the reemergence of McLaren, who after qualifying in P2 and P3, managed to score a podium and a big points haul on Sunday. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the quickest drivers on track behind Max Verstappen, as their new upgrades package has brought them right up the field in terms of pace. 

Zak Brown’s team may well have been on Alonso’s mind when trying to find an explanation as to where the pace had gone for Aston Martin from previous races: “As we said yesterday, it probably is a little bit of everything.”

“Outdeveloped a little bit in terms of a few teams that have brought some significant upgrades lately. Track specific - I think here was not our best layout for the package we have. We need to also see the tyres, obviously the first race that we have this new construction.”

“So, things that 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.” 

When asked about this season’s development race that has seen Aston Martin, Mercedes, Ferrari and now McLaren fighting to be the second fastest on the grid at one point or another, Alonso was again unconcerned: “To be honest I’m not one to stress about the development. The car is better than expected this year - we are fighting for things that we probably could never dream at the beginning of the year.”

“I think we have to focus as well on the long term picture. We cannot get stressed every weekend if we are seventh, fourth or in the podium. We need to be very pragmatic and relaxed about our performance.”