Alonso drives from 18th to ninth at Zandvoort with one-stop strategy to stun Dutch GP field

Fernando Alonso converted a one-stop strategy into a ninth-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on Sunday, climbing from 18th on the grid to score Aston Martin’s second points result of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The two-time world champion stayed out on soft tyres until lap 34 of 72 before switching to hard rubber, while most of the field ran at least two stops. The approach allowed Alonso to exploit the overcut, emerging in clean air and using the AMR26’s corner speed without being bottled up in traffic.

“I’m a very good driver,” Alonso said when asked how he made the strategy work. “That was not the plan. I think the plan was two stops and to go more conventional. But we need to sometimes deviate a little bit from what is normal. When we are in traffic, we cannot use our potential. We are faster in the corners and the people in front of us, we are slower on the straights, and we’re stuck behind. So, as soon as we have free track in front of us, we try to use it.”

The result follows Aston Martin’s ninth-place finish at Monaco in June — also scored by Alonso — and arrives on the back of a significant development push from the Silverstone-based outfit. The team introduced a revised chassis at the Hungarian Grand Prix the previous round, then added an upgraded Honda power unit for Zandvoort.

The weekend had not begun smoothly. Alonso qualified last for the sprint race after a straightline mode failure caused him to lock up at Turn 1, and both he and team-mate Lance Stroll finished the sprint outside the points in 17th and 18th. Sunday’s qualifying session was more encouraging, with Alonso and Stroll taking 18th and 19th ahead of Haas and Cadillac.

Alonso credited the chassis improvements in particular, noting that the team had refined its set-up around the Budapest specification during the summer break. “We brought four or five components here,” he said. “The Budapest package was understood in the break and with all the data available after the race, we fine-tuned a little bit the set-up around that new spec, plus the new parts. I think, now, we are optimising the chassis side and we are able to extract the maximum.”

Aston Martin are no longer considered the slowest team in the field — that distinction now belongs to new entrant Cadillac — though Alonso tempered expectations ahead of the next round, warning that the low-downforce circuit at Monza is unlikely to suit the car.