Fernando Alonso brought his Aston Martin home ninth at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, a one-stop strategy pulling him clear of a Williams garage watching its season slip into the pack.
By the flag Carlos Sainz had a ten-second penalty for locking up and clattering into his own teammate Alex Albon at Turn 1. He finished two laps down. Albon was out on the spot.
‘Only quicker than Cadillac’
The Spaniard’s verdict on where the team now sits was blunt.
“We are pretty much where we expected, which is towards the back; we are only quicker than Cadillac at the moment,” Sainz told reporters in the Zandvoort paddock.
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“You saw the Astons in race pace, they are a different league right now, so we couldn’t fight them.”
Sainz took the blame for the collision that ended Albon’s race, saying he had been caught by a bump under braking on worn tires.
“It’s not like we were fighting for anything big, but honestly it caught me so much by surprise that it’s apologies to him because it’s the last thing I wanted.”
Eleven points, and no answer since Barcelona
Williams sit ninth in the constructors’ championship on 11 points. Every one of them was scored in the first six rounds of the season. Audi are ahead on 16. Aston Martin, previously behind Williams in the table, are the team that has flipped the on-track order.
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Since the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, no Williams driver has finished higher than 15th. Both cars are regularly stuck in Q1.
Albon led Alonso for a large stretch of Sunday’s race before an early pit stop dropped him into traffic.
“We were in front of Fernando for most of that race. We were maybe not with his pace, but I think we boxed too early.”
“It’s where we’ve been for the last five races. It is where we are.”
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“I literally mean that every other lap is a blue flag.”
Monza next, and no expectations
Williams’ chassis has traditionally worked at Monza, the low-downforce Italian Grand Prix circuit where straight-line speed can mask aerodynamic weakness. That history is not moving Albon.
“I’m not expecting points,” he said of the Italian round.
The Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza runs on Sunday, September 6.
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