Alonso happy with ‘opportunistic Sunday’ as Stroll reflects on ‘frustrating weekend’ after contact with Tsunoda

Lance Stroll’s race was compromised from the very first lap in Baku, as contact with Yuki Tsunoda’s RB gave him a puncture, the resulting pit stop dropping him to last place. But while the Canadian left Azerbaijan disappointed, Fernando Alonso bagged good points for the team with a sixth-place finish.

That was Alonso’s best finish since he also finished sixth in Canada, eight races ago. The Spaniard had to work hard in the opening stages to keep ahead of Franco Colapinto, who was put on an aggressive strategy by Williams, but from there was able to pull away to finish as the best midfield runner.

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“The pace today was better than expected, degradation was better than expected,” the Spaniard said. “We stopped on Lap 13 and carried to the end with one set of hards with good pace.

“Normally only ninth and 10th are available to the midfield, but with the action in front of us, sixth was available so opportunistic Sunday for us.

“It was a little bit of a lonely race for me with nobody ahead to fight with. We were able to follow the trend around us on a one-stop strategy and we maintained the position to those chasing us behind. It was still a tough race with no time to relax.”

Alonso remains ninth in the drivers’ standings, comfortably ahead of his team mate in P10. Stroll failed to score in Baku after that opening lap contact damaged his car, the resultant puncture costing him time and putting him on a slower two-stop strategy before he retired with brake problems.

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The stewards opted not to take any action over the incident, which also caused Tsunoda to retire with bodywork damage.

“My race was pretty much over on the first lap when [Yuki] Tsunoda and I made contact. I dived down the inside – I'm not sure if he saw me or not – but he closed the door and I had to pit with a puncture,” Stroll said.

“We're all racing hard on the opening lap and these things happen, but it left us on the back foot for the rest of the race.

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“With nine laps to go I started feeling an issue with the brake pedal and it was getting worse with each lap. This isn't a circuit to take any risks at, and we were well out of the points positions, so it made sense to retire the car. It's been a frustrating weekend, but I'm looking forward to Singapore.”

Aston Martin remain fifth in the constructors' championship, comfortably ahead of RB.