The worst result of the year, with three points for its drivers, was not the only bad news for Aston Martin at the Hungaroring, where for the third consecutive race there was not even enough pace to fight for podium places.. Because even worse than that meager baggage was the distance that Fernando Alonso gave up against Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, the two fittest drivers in the World Cup: 75 seconds against the next world champion and 42 seconds with the young Briton..

In a 70-lap race, with two pit stops for all the favourites, the gap between the AMR23 and the two cars that set the standard is more than worrying.. That, not to mention Mercedes, which pushed George Russell from eighteenth on the grid to sixth at the finish.. “We had the second fastest car, although the result does not show it,” concluded Toto Wolff, pointing even without mentioning it, to Lewis Hamilton. “In theory, only Red Bull surpassed us, despite the fact that today we did not know how to monetize it,” added the Austrian.

Therefore, leaving aside some Red Bulls that are listed on another market, the landscape of Aston Martin is dyed every day in darker tones.. For the first time, after babbling some excuses at the Red Bull Ring or Silverstone, the team's main team admitted what everyone took for granted.. “It's disappointing, but also a reality check. We thought it was something specific to the previous two circuits and that we could be fast here.. But we haven't been,” admitted Mike Krack.

Too far from McLaren

And a look at the time tables is enough to understand Aston Martin's inability to find those three or four tenths that would have allowed Alonso to fight for position with Carlos Sainz or Russell. During the 20 laps of his first stint, with the medium tyre, the Spaniard was never able to drop below 1:25, a border regularly surpassed by the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris. And even worse were Lance Stroll's records in his 10 laps on soft rubber. Already with the hard compound, Alonso was able to ride regularly in 1:22 and 1:23 during the final stretch, in sections comparable to those of Mercedes or Sergio Pérez, despite the fact that by then he no longer had any option of approaching the lead.

In fact, the only moment of fun for the two-time world champion came on lap 22, with an overtake on Valtteri Bottas. After their astonishing performance on Saturday, the Alfa Romeos went backwards during the race, just as Alonso had predicted in the previous. And that was perhaps the only positive news for Aston Martin all weekend.

When asked about the most immediate need for the next race, on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, Alonso responded emphatically: “More grip”. Which is not without its astonishment, given the fabulous downforce that Aston Martin had during the first rounds of the World Cup.. At the Hungaroring, with almost 50ºC on the asphalt and a very slow passage through the curve, the AMR23 should have set the tone. And did not do it. “My ninth place reflects our pace, behind Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, which is more or less what we saw on Saturday,” conceded the Spaniard..

“We're suffering”

At the moment, not only the third place of the Spaniard is in danger, with a scant cushion against Hamilton (169-163), but also the third of the Constructors' World Championship, where Ferrari appears to 17 points (184-167). So work is piling up at the futuristic Silverstone factory to try to make up the ground lost in the second half of the championship. “I already said that we compete against very strong rivals when it comes to developing their cars and we are not fast enough,” added Krack on the DAZN microphones.

Conditions will vary completely this weekend at Spa, a motor track and pure power. With his feet on the ground, Alonso concedes that “it will also be difficult”, since he would need “more free practice sessions to test things and clear up doubts about whether something works or not”. Although he did not want to reiterate it, the man from Oviedo remains convinced that the change introduced by the FIA in Pirelli tires has not favored his options at all. And his final message should not leave anyone indifferent either: “There is no doubt that we are suffering.”