Fernando Alonso came into the Austrian Grand Prix hopeful for an improvement from Aston Martin after their recent struggles. It seems as if 2024 might roughly be following a similar trajectory to 2023.
Alonso began the year with two top-six finishes in the first four races. He also qualified on the front three rows at four of the first five events.
It wasn’t quite the heights of last year, when he’d scored six podiums by round eight, but Aston were still competitive. They were initially able to battle with the likes of Mercedes and McLaren.
Alonso only added two more podiums to his tally in the final 16 races of 2023 as Aston lost ground in the development race. And once again, they haven’t been able to upgrade their car at the same rate as their rivals.
The difference is that they’ve started from a lower base this time. And that means, rather than just falling into the lower reaches of the top 10, they’re slipping out of the points altogether.
Indeed, Alonso has walked away from three of the last four races empty-handed. Since qualifying third in China in April, he’s only had one top-10 start too.
Martin Brundle reacts to SQ2 exit for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin
There was more frustration for Alonso and Aston Martin in Sprint qualifying in Austria on Friday. Both cars were knocked out in SQ2, three tenths off the pace that was required.
For the second Sprint weekend in a row, Alonso was outpaced by teammate Lance Stroll. The Canadian has tested him over a single lap this season, beating him four times so far.
Speaking in commentary for Sky Sports F1, Martin Brundle rued another ‘difficult’ outing for the Silverstone outfit. Points are only awarded to the top eight in the Sprint, which made the result even more damaging.
Aston aren’t one of the teams who have new parts on their car for this weekend’s race. But worryingly, even though this circuit is very different in character to Barcelona, they’re similarly uncompetitive.
“Oh dear,” Brundle said as he cast his eye to the timesheets. “Aston Martin’s difficult phase continues. Down there in 12th and 13th.”
Lawrence Stroll got ‘pretty loud’ after one Aston Martin performance
The likelihood is that Aston will still pick up a commendable fifth place in the championship this year. They have nearly double the points of RB in sixth (60 vs 28) and the Red Bull junior outfit are dealing with their own issues at the moment.
But that doesn’t mean that days like Friday won’t be a source of considerable frustration. With a two-time world champion as their leader, they’re a hugely ambitious outfit who have undeniably gone backwards since last year.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll seems to be feeling the pain. One journalist says he got ‘pretty loud’ in an angry reaction to the team’s poor showing at Imola last month, where Alonso qualified and finished 19th in a heavily upgraded car.
The younger Stroll scored two points that day, but questions remain over whether he can deliver with the kind of consistency the team requires. Indeed, Red Bull poked fun at Aston on social media after the announcement of the 25-year-old’s new deal, implying that it was inevitable given his family connections.
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