Fernando Alonso has urged caution around Aston Martin after using its upgraded car to make history in the Dutch Grand Prix with a points finish.
Alonso finished ninth at Zandvoort to record Aston Martin's first points since he took 10th in Monaco, with the team unleashing its full new upgrade in the Netherlands, with Honda's new engine being deployed for the first time, following the chassis upgrades in Hungary.
Alonso's ninth place is the first time since Graham Hill at the 1974 Swedish GP that a driver who is at least 45 years old has scored points, and he is now just one of 14 drivers to have scored a world championship point after their 45th birthday.
Reflecting on the race, Alonso pointed to driveability concerns the team is still trying to overcome in what was a "challenging", yet rewarding weekend.
"Yeah, I think so," Alonso began to tell media, including RacingNews365, when asked if the two points were a fair result.
"I think we scored one point in Monaco, with nine DNFs, and we scored two points with Max [Verstappen] DNFing, so I think it was well deserved.
"Probably in Budapest we could have done a little bit better, and it will depend circuit by circuit depending on how many straights we have. So I don't expect Monza to be any competitive, but maybe at some other circuits we have another chance to be in the points.
"I think it was another step forward, especially on the chassis side. We brought four or five components here, and also the Budapest package was understood in the break, and with all the data available after the race, we fine-tuned the setup a little bit around that new spec plus the new parts.
"I think now we are optimising the chassis height, and we can extract the maximum. From the engine, it is more difficult. I don't think we can be black and white on whether we have more power or not.
"With drivability, it has been a difficult weekend. We're struggling with the downshifts again, and we're struggling with the engine braking corner to corner, so it was a challenging weekend in that regard."
Turning to his race, Alonso explained that the team deviated from its initial strategy plans to beat those around it."
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