'We have some hope' – How Alonso and Aston Martin took their opportunity in Sepang

Despite his P12 starting position, Fernando Alonso was sceptical about his prospects of finishing in the points ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Spaniard’s theory was that he would be vulnerable on the straights in the early laps, and then would not have the pace with which to regain any lost places.

However, rain on an eventful Sunday in Sepang upset his predictions and he ended the race in P8 – despite making the wrong tyre call for the start of a Grand Prix that had a few surprises in store.

Both Aston Martin drivers have retired on a regular basis in 2026, and Alonso mischievously suggested that it wasn’t fair that there was a grid reset after several drivers experienced problems on the original formation lap, noting that “I think I had 50 per cent DNFs this year. They never stopped the race for us. Yeah, that was quite strange!”

When the race eventually got underway the track was wet but drying, and in common with McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine, Audi, Cadillac and Haas (with one car), Aston opted for slicks, in this case mediums.

“The rain was very much appreciated in terms of opportunities for us,” said Alonso. “And we even started with slicks because we thought that the rain was not anymore there. It took quite long to restart the race, but I'm sure there is an explanation.”

All the drivers who went for slicks soon found it was a bad choice. But while his team mate Lance Stroll quickly abandoned them and switched to intermediates, Alonso joined the group who stayed out, essentially hoping that a Safety Car would allow a cheap tyre changed and close up the field.

Remarkably he even passed his former McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton as they slithered around and looked for grip.

In the end the hoped-for Safety Car came, and after the resumption Alonso made steady progress up the order. He made it into the points when he passed Arvid Lindblad just before the late VSC that turned into the second full Safety Car period.

Subsequently a retirement for George Russell and a mishap for Lando Norris promoted Alonso to P8, and after the restart he stayed there – safely in front of Norris – for the run to the flag.

An Aston Martin holding off the World Champion and a double 2026 race winner was likely not on anyone’s Sepang bingo card…

“I think it is the track,” said Alonso. “I think we've been more competitive this weekend in general, both cars in Q2, and today fighting in the midfield territory. So yeah, overall it was a better weekend. Let's see if we can keep up this pace, especially in Singapore, where we have some hopes next weekend.

“And then there are some other weeks that we are very uncompetitive, and we have to accept it. The weekends that we can score points, the important thing is to execute well the race. Today, obviously, we started with a slick, so we put ourselves in some difficulties there – but at the end it was it was okay. After the Safety Car, we had a new race coming.”

Aston Martin's Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack admitted that the team had simply got it wrong with the tyre choice.

"I think we did some good decisions, but we did also some that were less good, and this we need to review clearly,” he said. “We then bailed out [of the slicks] with Lance, with Fernando we continued. We were just in the debrief, and he said it didn't feel that bad until the intermediate runners came and just flew by.

“But clearly that's something we need to go through. Yes it was hot, and yes it was drying, but we saw that 50 per cent of the field did what we did, but 50 per cent did not get it right. So that's something we need to clearly have a look at.”

Things then turned in the team’s favour: “I think we were fortunate with the Safety Car to close up again, and then it started more going into a normal race. I think it was quite intense, quite interesting. A lot happened.

“A good end at the end of the day, with a lot of incidents that were probably masking here and there. But I said it this morning, opportunities, if they come, we don't have the pace to finish in the points on a regular basis yet. So we need to grab opportunity, and I think that is what we did today.”

Despite the result Krack wasn’t getting too excited, while acknowledging that it was encouraging for a team that has faced such a difficult time this season.

“I think, let's not forget, three weeks ago we were in Madrid, one week ago we were in Baku, and we were just nowhere,” he said. “I think we need to keep our feet on the ground here, analyse really why we were more competitive here, and look ahead and see how we can benefit more from that.

“To be honest for the team it's great, because we have been really through tough times, and the few positive moments that you get you have to – I'm not saying celebrate like a World Championship party – but I think you need to take a breath and acknowledge when good results come your way, because we have not been fortunate enough to have many.”