F1, Alonso approves the new Aston Martin
Scrolling through the starting grid, you will notice that Aston Martin was again eliminated in Q1, with Fernando Alonso starting from 18th position ahead of Lance Stroll. A step back compared to Hungary (where the two-time world champion reached Q2) but at the same time a step forward in terms of competitiveness, because the AMR26 is no longer the worst car in the field.
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Alonso, who has never spared criticism of his teams even in much better times, sees it positively. The two-time world champion appreciated the corrections made by Adrian Newey with this version B but points out that – despite the new power unit – the gap in terms of top speed remains.
Alonso’s words
“I think there has been a good step forward, overall. In the end, we made the most of what we had. I believe the team’s trajectory and performance are encouraging. A few races ago we were four and a half seconds behind, and now we are 1.3 seconds from Piastri in Q1. All the steps have been in the right direction, but now we have the hard part: the last 1.5 seconds is the hardest to recover, and that will take time“.
“It’s a better car, as I also said in Budapest. In corners, I don’t think we are losing much compared to anyone. Surely we don’t lose to mid-field drivers, but also compared to the top teams. We are getting closer and closer, but we still have a gap on the straights“.
In Hungary, Aston Martin practically presented a new car considering the scale of the updates. At Zandvoort, the new engine made its debut, already tested in a filming day before the summer break. But, naturally, in F1 miracles don’t happen, and it will take time for the AMR26 to digest the corrections and be able to consistently fight for points.
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