For an outfit that finished seventh in the standings last term, it emerged as the surprise package, the team closest to troubling Red Bull.
PLUS: How Aston Martin broke into F1’s lead pack
But in the five grands prix since, an Aston driver has only once more classified in the top three. Alonso’s second place in Canada disrupts a run of two sevenths, a ninth and a fifth-place finish on his side of the garage.
Having led Mercedes in the points up until Spain, the Silverstone squad has fallen 39 points behind the Silver Arrows to third. But a lack of pace, plus questionable strategy and pitstop execution, from Ferrari has relieved the pressure from behind.
Compared to last season, Aston is still exceeding expectations. Its phenomenal start to the campaign took the paddock and the watching audience by surprise. Despite the relative drop off, had anyone at the team been offered in late 2022 a run of 11 points-scoring results in a row, that would have been considered absolutely as a success.
The Hungarian GP last weekend was anticipated both externally and internally to have arrested any results decline. A low-speed circuit nature was expected to have suited the AMR23’s strong downforce and mechanical grip, while mitigating its straight-line efficiency deficiencies. However, Alonso led Lance Stroll for a muted 9-10 finish.
Alonso said in Silverstone that the team needed to make it to the summer break before resetting. In Budapest, he added that Aston was now only fifth-fastest. The two-time champion noted: “It's hard for us to understand a little bit better what the car is doing now compared to the beginning of the season, how many upgrades we brought compared to our main competitors, and then understanding the new tyres the best. They're the same for everybody, so we just need to do a better job.”
His bosses are far from panicking, though. They also reject his suggestion that the more robust Pirelli tyre construction introduced for the British GP has particularly hurt Aston and Red Bull. Performance director Tom McCullough confirms there are “no big changes” in performance.
Source: Autosport