F1 | Alonso 8th, Aston: “No simulation would have given us this far ahead”

Often on street tracks and, more specifically, in Singapore, the value of the drivers and their ability to make the difference tends to emerge. The lack of feeling between the walls of the Marina Bay track can make the difference, as was seen in the internal comparison between the two McLaren and Red Bull drivers.

However, scrolling down the standings, there are also drivers who were able to make the difference, including Fernando Alonso, capable of bringing Aston Martin to eighth place, enough to put himself in the lead among the mid-group teams. A result that not even the British team expected from their simulations, even if the Spaniard clearly wants to fight for much higher positions, so much so that in the last free practice he was very active in collecting data for the engineers, trying different solutions and setups.

While waiting for the new features that Alonso hopes will really help Aston Martin take a step forward in terms of performance and driveability, especially considering that not all the new features this season are giving the desired results, the Spaniard has been making the difference in the last few Grands Prix, further consolidating the team’s position in the constructors’ ranking.

Although fifth place in the world championship is never really in question, this is largely due to the points accumulated by the twice-returned driver, twelve of which have come in the last two street races, on the streets of Baku and under the floodlights of Singapore. Although in Azerbaijan the late contact between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez allowed them to gain two positions for free, Alonso has been the beacon of this Aston Martin on street circuits, where he has also capitalized on a good number of points in 2024, thanks also to the fifth place in Jeddah and the sixth in Montreal.

In Singapore, Aston Martin showed up with a new front wing revised in the upper flaps and nose (on the right in the comparison below), aiming to ensure greater downforce at the front and, consequently, a better balance with the rear wing. The target was therefore to rebalance the two axles, opening the doors to a greater number of setups, without having to compromise too much.

As much as this helped, the lack of downforce from a general point of view was still evident and Lance Stroll struggled all weekend to find a good feeling with the AMR24, sinking already in Q1. Even in Baku the Canadian was unable to find the necessary confidence in his car, also paying for a more loaded aerodynamic set-up choice by his teammate which, in reality, had not given the desired effects.

In Singapore, Alonso seemed to be in good shape since Friday: curiously, as in Baku, the top speeds, especially with DRS open, also helped in Singapore, although not as clearly as a week ago. An aspect that other teams, such as Racing Bulls, still paid for on the flying lap, while Aston Martin managed to be more consistent in terms of performance.

In the race, the Spaniard remained for a long time behind Hulkenberg, who had managed to precede him in qualifying, with a small group that behind him also saw Charles Leclerc, who started from the fifth row after the problems in Q3. Given the difficulties in overtaking the Haas driver, capable of skillfully managing the “train” of cars, the choice at Aston Martin was to play strategy, attacking with an undercut that materialized a few laps later, when the German then came in for his pit stop, coming back about seven seconds behind Alonso, but with a delta of four laps of tires.

Clearly, it was difficult for the Asturian to manage the recovery of Charles Leclerc, who had a pace in his hands to potentially fight for the podium. Until the finish line, it was then a matter of managing the return of Hulkenberg, who in the final laps returned to the exhausts of the Aston Martin driver, but without managing to reach the DRS zone.

An eighth place finish that, according to Team Principal Mike Krack, goes beyond all expectations, given that before the weekend no simulation had given them that far ahead in the standings: “Of course we have our numbers and our projections. But we have to be honest: none of our simulations told us that we would arrive that far ahead”, said Krack, underlining how this result is the result of both an excellent qualifying, fundamental in Singapore, and excellent management in the race.

If Alonso managed to make the difference on the street circuits and secure more points for Aston Martin, now they will return to more traditional tracks, starting with Austin, where Alonso believes that the AMR24 could show some more signs of difficulty. The hope is that the new parts can help to make a step forward: “Yes, we will probably struggle more on the normal tracks. I think that the last street circuits, like here and in Baku, had an opportunity. But I think we need to raise the level now. In the next races, new parts will arrive, hopefully they will help us to get back to better performance”.