Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin and a ‘thoroughly miserable’ decline which could have consequences
Alonso retired from the Mexican Grand Prix, his second DNF in a row; a season of such promise with genuine hope of a race win has disintegrated into nothingness
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Fernando Alonso is not a man often indifferent in his persona. The two-time world champion has made a career, sometimes to his detriment, out of doggedly striving for more, with an insatiable greed that has motivated him to keep racing into his 40s. But for the first time this season – a season which started with so much potential and excitement – the Formula 1 veteran is apathetic. A mood indicative of Aston Martin’s monumental drop-off in performance.
“Honestly we are not fighting for anything,” Alonso said, off the back of a weekend to forget in Mexico City and a second retirement in a row. “In the constructors’ championship, we are locked in the position we are. In the drivers championship, we will lose a couple of places.”
While Max Verstappen has continued to sail off into the sunset, Alonso’s 2023 optimism has slowly waned away. After six podiums in eight races, the 42-year-old has recorded just one in the last 11 grands prix. Milliseconds from what could have been a win-clinching pole position in Monaco, Alonso’s goal of a first race win in 10 years has inched further and further out of reach. Spanish fans had been dreaming of “Como 33” – a nod to a forthcoming 33rd victory – but with three races to go Aston Martin, in what seems no time at all, have gone from second-strongest to distinctly the fifth best team on the grid.
Mexico on Sunday was perhaps a new low. Starting in 13th place, Alonso dropped back rapidly after sustaining suspected floor damage in the aftermath of Sergio Perez’s collision with Charles Leclerc. By the time the mid-race red flag was issued, he was dead-last and even suffered the indignity of being asked to let team-mate Lance Stroll pass. Eventually, over 20 laps from the end, his race was brought to an end by his team.
It left Martin Brundle, on commentary for Sky, to describe the Spaniard’s weekend as a “thoroughly miserable event.”
It marks quite the turnaround for the sport’s early-season surprise package. Buoyed by an rapid aerodynamic package that was quickly nicknamed “the green Red Bull” and a muti-million pound investment including a new state-of-the-art factory at Silverstone, Lawrence Stroll’s gamble in buying Force India in 2018 looked finally to have paid off following testing and the first race of the season in Bahrain. Technical director Dan Fallows, poached from Red Bull, had designed a car capable of beating Mercedes and Ferrari, while still some way off Adrian Newey’s rocketship.
Alonso, like a kid in a candy shop, was beaming in just about every interview he did.
That critical qualifying in Monaco is as close as he has come to a victory. With overtaking on-track a near-impossibility in the principality, Alonso looked to have claimed pole until Verstappen – with a final sector for the ages – snatched top spot. And while a second-place in Canada soon followed, Austria at the start of July represented a sea-change in the pecking order.
Mercedes were making slow inroads; Ferrari had found pace on Saturdays. But the biggest shock of all was McLaren’s revolutionary upgrades. Suddenly, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were challenging for podiums. And in a matter of months, the papaya have replaced the racing green as a leading contender mixing with the big boys.
Put simply, while upgrades have quickened most of the field, Aston’s changes throughout the season have not had the desired effect. Since Zandvoort in August, Alonso has claimed just 15 points and has gone from being settled in third place in the championship behind the leading Red Bull duo to now languishing in fifth. Stroll’s antics – most notably in Qatar, pushing his personal trainer and sulking in the media pen – have not helped the general morale surrounding the team, too.
Alonso finishing as low as eighth in the world championship, with George Russell just 32 points behind now, is now very plausible.
The demise has been substantial. But in the wider scheme of the F1 arms race, Aston’s significant rise up the rankings was perhaps bound to conclude this season with a decrease in performance. Was it all too much too soon? Perhaps.
But while Alonso is keeping his chin just about up for now, the Spaniard is not the sort to accept mediocrity. Rumours on social media on Monday speculated that Alonso could replace Perez at Red Bull next season in what would be an incomprehensible straight swap. Not afraid to ruffle feathers, don’t be surprised if the Spaniard asks the question over the coming weeks. Maybe, at 42, he is considering his own future in the sport he first debuted in 22 years ago.
Or maybe he wants to keep pushing with Aston Martin; a team who has given him a new lease of life for most of this season. But Aston need to prove again to their most valuable asset that a reverse of their current slide is on the horizon, heading into 2024.
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