Aston Martin experienced a challenging weekend at the São Paulo Grand Prix. It started promisingly with Fernando Alonso in P5 during the sprint qualifying, but the pace faltered thereafter. After a disappointing race weekend, the competitors in the constructors’ championship are closing in, making it appear that the team is heading towards one of its worst finishes in 16 years.
On Friday during the sprint qualifying, Alonso finished fifth and Lance Stroll seventh. In the sprint race, Alonso managed to secure the sixth place, earning three points, while Stroll just missed out on the points at P9. However, things went awry for Aston Martin during the qualifying and the race. Both drivers started on the hard tyre, which did not perform as expected. Moreover, Stroll was involved in an incident with Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto, causing the Brazilian to end his home race in the wall. Later at the restart, Stroll was hit from behind by Yuki Tsunoda in turn 8, causing him to spin. Alonso eventually finished fourteenth, Stroll sixteenth, turning a promising start into a disappointing end.
Despite the disappointment, Alonso remained positive about Aston Martin’s strategy. “We tried something by starting on the hard tire. I was glad we took a risk,” the Spaniard explained. “If we had done the same as the others, we would have just followed them and ended up at the back. So we tried something different. It didn’t work, but at least we tried.” Stroll explained that his race was ruined early on by incidents: “We lost a lot of time at the beginning when I was hit by Yuki. I lost about 15 seconds, and then the race was basically over. In the Sprint, we were more competitive than in the qualifying and the Grand Prix. We’ll see what we can do in Las Vegas.”
Worst Result Since 2009
Aston Martin currently ranks seventh in the constructors’ championship, ten points behind Racing Bulls in P6 and two points ahead of Haas in P8. In the past three race weekends, Haas scored 24 points, 22 of which were thanks to rookie Oliver Bearman, while Aston Martin only collected 4 points. If the team falls back to the eighth place, it would be the worst constructors’ result since 2009. To end the season on a positive note, Aston Martin will have to pull out all the stops in the remaining three Grand Prix.
