Fernando Alonso has revealed Aston Martin entered the Spanish Grand Prix without a strategic plan. The Spaniard finished his home race seventh, behind teammate Lance Stroll, having started eighth on the grid with the AMR23s unable to mix it with Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes' advantage was gained during the first stint, where George Russell - who started 12th - was unchallenged for speed on his Soft tyres. Assessing the strategy battle, Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.com : "We didn't have a plan, to be honest. "We were not sure about the degradation. George was so fast on the first stint, when he overtook me, we changed our minds a little bit - we didn't want to run too close to the cars in front and extend the first stint. "By doing so, we also extended the second and we knew our opportunity was in the final 15 laps of the race, but not enough to fight at the front, just to fight the midfield."
Last few races "strange"
The Aston Martin took a step backwards on high-fuel compared to its qualifying pace, given Stroll's slide from third early in the race to sixth. But Alonso was quick to point out that this was not a race-specific issue for the team, adding: "In Miami, we were so confused in free practice and then we qualified on the first row, from there the race was easier. "In Monaco also, we struggled a little bit in practice, we qualified second and then from that point we secured the podium. "We didn't really show the pace of the car until Barcelona. The last few races were a little strange and qualifying-biased. "Let's analyse but I am happy with the race."
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