Aston Martin are now one of the big five in Formula One together with Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Their early season form in 2023 surprised their competitors as Fernando Alonso claimed six podium from the first seven weekends of the year.
Yet a combination of poor in season car development from the team and the fact Fernando is scoring nigh on two thirds of their points with little contribution from his team mate, saw Aston miss out on P4 to McLaren by just 22 points.
Alonso misses out on pole
This year, Ferrari and McLaren have proven to be ahead of the pack chasing Red Bull and Max Verstappen and Aston Martin are now duking it out with Mercedes each weekend for the lower scoring points positions.
Lance Stroll has had a poor start to the year, scoring just nine points for his Silverstone based team whilst Alonso again is the lead driver with 31 after five races. Had Stroll even picked up two thirds of his team mate’s points, Aston would now be ahead of Mercedes who currently have 12 points more than their rivals with the racing green livery.
Last time out in China was the first of the six Sprint weekends on this years F1 calendar and with all the teas having just one hour of practice before Sprint Qualifying, getting the car right for Friday afternoon is a big ask for them all.
Then down came the rain and Lando Norris pulled out a surprise fastest time running last in SQ3 ahead of Lewis Hamilton who had been top of the time sheets for a good half minute. Hopes of a Fernando Alonso pole faded with about a minute remaining on the clock and the Aston Martin driver could only manage third ahead of Max Verstappen.
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Fernando and Carlos colide
Lance Stroll scrapped through SQ1 and was eventually emitted in the second session giving him a starting position of P15 for the Sprint. Stroll failed to trouble the scorers in the shortened race form on Saturday morning, while his team mate was battling up front with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc for third.
But as Alonso battled Sainz on ageing tyres in the closing stages of the Shanghai Sprint, the pair switched positions several times before they clashed at turn 9 two laps from home. The incident caused a puncture for Alonso who retired the car missing out on a points finish.
The race stewards decided to give Fernando a 10 second time penalty and three penalty points on his license for causing avoidable contact. Their post race report stated:
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 14 (Fernando Alonso), the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 14 caused a collision with Car 55 at Turn 9. The result of the collision was that Car 55 was damaged and that Car 14 had a puncture and retired before the end of the sprint session.”
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Aston Martin appeal China penalty
Having retired from the race, the time penalty had no effect on Alonso, yet the incident was described by a number of F1 pundits as underserving of such a punishment, something Aston Martin are now seeking to redress. The FIA confirmed a submission has been made to the stewards by the Aston Martin team and a hearing will take place at 08:00 EDT on Friday 3rd May.
According to the document: “It should be noted that this hearing will be held in two parts: The first part will be to hear evidence as to whether there is a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the decision concerned.”
“Should the Stewards determine, in accordance with Article 14.3 of the FIA International Sporting Code, that such an element exists, a second part of the hearing will be convened at a time to be advised. Any other “concerned party” may seek the permission of the Stewards to be present for the second part of the hearing, should one be convened.”
Alonso was disconsolate following the decision of the stewards in China and threatened to sit out the next Sprint in Miami as he feels its “not worth it.”
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Alonso questions whether Sprint worth it
“It makes you think if in the next Sprint, you even want to go out for a run,” he said to assembled media in Shanghai. “Due to the points that are given and that we are not going to have the tyres we use [to use in the Grand Pix], it is almost worth not going out,” noted the Spaniard.
Drivers are already cautious during the Sprint events, given the points are much reduced and only pay out down to eighth position.
With par ferme lifted after the Sprint race and before Grand Prix qualifying, the drivers can now make set up adjustments to their cars which Fernando duly did. Again he qualified third but the tyre degradation Aston Martin are experiencing saw the double world champion only able to come home in seventh place.
With six penalty points on his license Alonso is half way to a possible race ban should he reach twelve. At the start of the year Fernando had no driver points on his super license but in Australia an incident at Turn 6-7 with George Russell saw the stewards down under hand out three points to Fernando.
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They said: “At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.”
Russell had failed to slow sufficiently and hit the rear of Alonso’s car during the dying laps of the race. The Mercedes car crashed out with Russell stranded in the middle of the track at the blind turn.
Fernando was awarded a 20 second penalty and three points, though the Spanish maestro was non-plussed over the matter telling reporters next time out in Suzuka, “It was a bit surprising, but nothing we can do.”
Wolff hypocrisy over Verstappen talk
Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have attended an event in New York in the run up to the Miami Grand Prix. They were at a Manhattan partner occasion where WhatsApp projected a race car emoji onto the Empire State Building lit up in green.
Yet the conversation quickly returned to the hot topic of Max Verstappen potentially leaving red Bull Racing. Toto Wolff has previously made it clear he would love to have Verstappen racing for Mercedes, and even joked they had a role for the Dutch driver’s mentor, Dr. Helmut Marko…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Please address your infactual account of the Alonso incident with russell. No contact was made and Russell crashed into the barriers of his own accord due to loss of front wing down force.