Alonso's terrible streak that remembers his worst years at McLaren: "I have no brakes or tires and we are out of the points"

In just one week, excitement has turned into disappointment at Aston Martin. Only seven days after the encouraging pace shown in Austin, where the AMR-23 managed to lap at the same pace as Max Verstappen, the Silverstone team sank hopelessly at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The second zero of the season, six weeks after the Singapore GP, leaves the British team very shaken, whose performance in Mexico was even behind those of Alfa Romeo, Haas, AlphaTauri and Williams.

A radio message from Fernando Alonso, shortly after Kevin Magnussen's brutal accident, explained by itself the critical moments experienced in the green garage. “I have no brakes or tires and we are out of the points. We will try to do whatever it takes, but I don't care too much,” admitted the two-time world champion, who also failed the DRS.. A cluster of misfortunes that brought to mind that black three-year period at McLaren-Honda (2015-17).

Alonso's notorious problems getting the car onto the lane became more acute almost from the start, when he ran over the debris left by the collision between Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc.. After a first refusal from its engineers, who ruled out damage to the AMR-23, Aston Martin was quick to confirm that this scrap metal scattered on the asphalt had reduced the performance of its car..

“It got worse after coming out”

“It has affected us aerodynamically, because we were already regular this weekend and this has forced us to ride even slower,” admitted the double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “We tried to fix it during the red flag period, but it actually got worse after the start and we had to retire the car,” said the man from Oviedo in the DAZN microphones.

The lack of competitiveness of the Aston Martin was evident thanks to the data provided by Lance Stroll, very far from repeating his good race in Austin. When they asked him to take a little more risk when braking, the Canadian struggled angrily: “I'm already doing it and I can't even keep up with the cars in front of me.”.

In fact, both Stroll and Alonso found themselves powerless against Alfa Romeo, Haas, Williams and AlphaTauri, the weakest teams in the World Championship, which so far have only added 72 points in 19 races.. “We have not been competitive during the weekend and we have not given our drivers the car they needed to fight for the points,” analyzed Mike Krack, main team of the British team..

Stroll's Bitter Birthday

The improvements planned during the early hours of Sunday were of no use, when Aston Martin once again intervened in Stroll's car.. “We still don't have the pace we need to compete with the best,” acknowledged the owner's son, to whom his team gave a bitter 25th birthday.. Of course, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has never been an ideal setting for Alonso either.. Since his debut, back in 2015, the man from Oviedo has accumulated four abandonments, with ninth place in 2021 with Alpine as the best result.

From now on, with three races ahead (Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi), the only plausible objective for Aston Martin is to continue advancing with its large-scale tests for the 2024 World Cup. In fact, if it had not been Due to his abandonment, Alonso would have made an extra pit-stop to assess the performance of the tires. He himself requested this in another radio message.

Despite having secured fifth place in the Constructors' World Championship, with a 135-point margin over Alpine, the factory refuses to close the championship in the middle of this terrible streak. “No one is happy with our current form, but we are strong and we will continue to work together to improve,” concluded Krack. Since the Italian GP, at the beginning of September, the Silverstone team has scored 21 points, seven less than its French opponent.