Alonso, clear in Q3
There is a lot of work to be done to find a statistic in which Max Verstappen does not excel in 2023. Yet, upon closer inspection, there is at least one: the Dutchman is not the driver with the most Q3 qualifications. With 15 appearances out of 17, the Dutchman places himself in second place, paying for the difficulties of Jeddah and Singapore, where he was surprisingly ousted by Liam Lawson, also on his “sister” AlphaTauri.
At the moment this ranking is led by Fernando Alonso: the Spaniard is the only one to have done it en plein on Saturdays, despite the AMR23 having dropped significantly in performance over the course of the year. The Aston Martin driver, although he has never had the most devastating weapon in his arsenal in the flying lap, is actually showing impressive continuity, which makes him the only stick the team can lean on.
More than Perez and Stroll… combined
To make Alonso’s statistics even more sensational is the performance of two drivers from whom we expected at least consistency at good levels: Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez. The teammate of Nando in fact he reached Q3 only on seven occasions out of 17 (Sakhir, Jeddah, Melbourne, Baku, Montmeló, Red Bull Ring and Spa), while Checo he succeeded nine times despite driving one of the strongest cars in the history of Formula 1. This means that Perez and Stroll – together – even reached one Q3 less than Alonso.
It’s clear to everyone how Stroll and Perez are increasingly becoming a problem for Aston Martin and Red Bull. A problem that has afflicted the Silverstone team more than the dominators of the championship, because if it is true that the RB19 excelled with Verstappen even without the help of the Mexican, the AMR23 – with a Stroll more on the ball – could have at least fought for second position in the constructors’ championship.
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