When the chequered flag waved at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, there were unexpected jubilant scenes in the Mercedes garage.
George Russell had bided his time and driven a very strong race to be in a position to capitalise when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris ended their chances of victory by colliding heading into turn one.
Drivers rarely suffer reliability issues these days and so mistakes are the main reason why a racer might not make it to the end of a Grand Prix.
But when they do, the teams just behind the frontrunners have to take full advantage.
Russell was the main benefactor but further down the pecking order Haas, RB and Alpine all scored points.
Nico Hulkenberg put in a brilliant performance to achieve his best finish since 2019 while Pierre Gasly now has four points-scoring finishes on the bounce.
During the race weekend covering the Grand Prix for Sky Sports F1, Martin Brundle was very concerned about a team that failed to score a point for a third weekend out of the last four.
After achieving seven straight top-ten finishes at the beginning of the 2024 campaign, Aston Martin have been caught up by the midfield and the updates they’re putting on the car don’t appear to be working.
Brundle has suggested that Fernando Alonso is looking more and more fed up as a result and Lance Stroll couldn’t challenge for points after failing to progress through Q1 on Saturday.
Team principal Mike Krack has a serious job on his hands to try and turn this around although the signs aren’t looking good ahead of their home race at Silverstone on Sunday.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Martin Brundle doesn’t understand what’s going wrong for Aston Martin
At the end of the second round of qualifying on Saturday when Lance Stroll had already been eliminated and Fernando Alonso joined him on the sidelines by finishing 15, Brundle said: “I mean, what is going on with Aston Martin?
“They’re the seventh-fastest team this afternoon. They’re ahead of Williams, does that make them eighth-fastest actually?
“They’re ahead of Sauber and Williams and that’s just about it, eighth-fastest team.”
Benjamin added: “It is a tough day at the office for Fernando Alonso.”
READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2
Aston Martin going backwards after confirming 2025 driver line-up
The 2024 Formula 1 season has seen the grid converge and every team appears to better understand their cars.
After years of struggles, even Mercedes appear to have a better grasp of what’s going on with the F1 W15.
However, Aston Martin – valued by Forbes at £3.1bn – struggled halfway through last season when they tried to upgrade the car and are suffering with a similar issue this year.
Fernando Alonso committed to the Aston Martin project early and will be buoyed by the arrival of Honda in 2026 when the new regulations are introduced.
Lance Stroll joined him in confirming his continued relationship with the team ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix and has closed the gap to his teammate in recent races.
READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
That may be because their rivals are beginning to overtake them and the gap to the likes of Haas and Alpine will be particularly concerning.
Aston Martin looked like the fifth-best constructor on the grid during the early stages of the season, but now their points difference over the likes of RB and Haas is beginning to close.
It’s hard to see the bottom three teams reaching their current tally of 58 points by the end of the campaign, but Haas and certainly RB will definitely think that total is achievable.
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