Last row of the grid for Aston Martin at Spa: Did the green team just gamble away their chances with the setup? Why Fernando Alonso still talks about a “well-tuned” car
In the first and only practice session at Spa on Friday, Aston Martin briefly raised eyebrows when both green cars finished in the top 10. But the lackluster double elimination in Q2 of the sprint qualifying dealt a severe blow to the hopes of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
In retrospect, however, this was still a strong result compared to what was to follow a good 24 hours later in the actual qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix: 19th and 20th place, two-tenths of a second behind the rest of the field, and a closed back row: Aston Martin was down and out.
Even veteran Alonso is at a loss when asked about the causes of Aston’s sudden disaster: “I don’t know exactly—that’s more of a question for the technical department,” the Spaniard shrugs, looking at himself and teammate Stroll and adding: “We’re just driving the car as fast as we can.”
Alonso’s alarming assessment: “It felt good.”
But even more alarming is Alonso’s assessment: “The car felt good, the balance was good, there was nothing really problematic about the lap,” he said after finishing 19th: “In the end, it’s the time that counts, and it just wasn’t fast enough – that’s the only conclusion we can draw.”
At Aston Martin, heads are naturally spinning: “We need to understand why we weren’t competitive on this layout, on a high-speed track like Spa. You need a car here that has grip in the corners but is also fast on the straights – and clearly we didn’t find the right setup to combine both. Let’s see what we can take away from this,“ said Alonso, who is at least patient.
The Spaniard admits that he and his team ”made a few changes since the morning to prepare ourselves a little better for possible rain. But that’s no excuse – we shouldn’t have been so slow in dry conditions: we were half a second off the Q2 time, and that half second wasn’t just down to the setup compromise.”
With more downforce for the rain expected on Sunday, the car felt “a little better in the corners but a little worse on the straights,” according to Alonso, who points primarily to changes to the damper settings: “But as I said, the lap itself was fine. I had a good feeling in the car, the balance was right,“ and the Aston Martin was ”basically well set up.“
”One of the fastest laps of the last ten years”
Although Alonso said he was “not surprised” by the poor performance on the timing monitor, he still “enjoyed” driving the car. The Spaniard explains: “Sure, we’re at the bottom of the table, but I still drove a 1:42 lap – that’s one of the fastest laps we’ve driven here in the last ten years.”
Alonso is well aware: “Of course, there are drivers who are breaking track records right now, but in terms of how the car feels, I still feel fast and I’m still enjoying driving.”
Aston Martin’s last hope at Spa is now the rain, which could make the chosen setup work after all. However, Alonso is not expecting miracles: “We’ll see. We all have the same weather forecast, and if it really rains, that sometimes opens up new possibilities. But to be honest, I’d rather start in the top 5 with a completely dry setup than start from the back with a rain setup.“
The veteran points out: ”Overtaking is difficult in the wet, visibility is extremely limited.” That’s why the conclusion after the Green’s horror Saturday is rather sobering: “Unfortunately, we didn’t deliver the performance we had hoped for this weekend. Now it’s time to understand what went wrong and prepare better for Hungary,” Alonso demands just one day before the race has even started…
