Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s start to the season was bubbly. Unfortunately for the Asturian, however, the first real disappointment of this 2023 came precisely in his home race, in Barcelona.
His qualification was conditioned by damage to the road surface repaired in an off-track excursion, which had relegated him to ninth place on the grid, but with the hope of being able to recover and maybe go hunting for the top 5.
Nothing could be further from reality, because in today’s race he never managed to find the right pace and in the end he even had to settle for seventh place, even behind his teammate Lance Stroll, who beat him for the first time this year, both on Saturday and Sunday.
A bitter pill to digest, especially on a weekend in which he never hid his hope for his 33rd career victory, 10 years after his 32nd, which took place right on the Catalan track. Even in the face of a disappointment of this type, however, Fernando seems to be able to see the glass half full.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, at the drivers parade
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“There will certainly be an explanation, but we don’t know at the moment. We have to study what happened, because it was our weakest race. But even in a difficult weekend we scored more points than Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings. We lost some in the Mercedes, but we hope to recover them in Canada,” Alonso told Sky Sport F1.
Given the step forward made by Mercedes with the updates for the W14, it will be essential for the Silverstone team to react immediately, but from this point of view Alonso seems to have great faith in his technicians.
“All the work that is done off the track, on the evolution of the car, will always be important in a season with values so close together. Mercedes brought a big upgrade in Monaco and here in Barcelona, but we have something coming in Canada and Silverstone, so I’m calm”, he concluded.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
#Alonso #points #Ferrari #difficult #weekend