Aston Martin hits rock bottom with Fernando Alonso’s second retirement

Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix

Black day in Mexico Aston MartinAnother one, this time in… Hermanos Rodriguez Autodromewhere Fernando Alonso It was abandoned for the second race in a row. the Americas They suffocate the team United kingdomWhich retired its best driver’s car for the second time all season. The first was last weekend United State.

The Asturian driver had a very complex qualifying session that placed him thirteenth on the grid. It was the starting point for an impossible comeback, but things started to go wrong very early on and Alonso hit rock bottom with Aston Martin dropping to last place before abandoning the race.

But before, his career was already atypical and impossible to understand. For the first time, his partner surpasses him. Lance outing, which took him two seconds a lap before overtaking. The Canadian’s car worked, but the two-time world champion’s car did not. “Yes, he probably has a better chance than me,” the resigned Alonso said over the radio. Finally, the Canadian also ended up giving up two laps from the finish.

Neither Fernando Alonso nor Stroll were able to finish the race in Mexico and it was the first time in 2023 that Aston Martin had retired its drivers before finishing the race. Moreover, Asturian had been bypassed before Carlos Sainz In the World Cup classification Formula 1 After his poor result, his compatriot ranked fourth with 12 points, and although they were equal in points (183), his victory in Singapore raised him to fourth place.

Aston Martin crash in Mexico

The end of the year represents an ordeal for Aston Martin, which saw in Mexico how its best drivers retired early again. From being the second best team in the first races to being last with three races remaining. No one in that garage could explain what happened at that Grand Prix and someone had to come out and provide explanations. The manager was Fernando Alonso himself, and he was clearly depressed after the test

“It was a very tough race, our speed was slow all weekend and I think we hit part of Chico’s car or someone’s car in the first corner, and that also affected our aerodynamics. We were actually driving the car that weekend and we ran over a piece of the car and we were going More slowly. Austin’s abandonment and abandonment here starts to make sense as he weighs a lot more on the championship and a little heavier.

“There is no other option. This year, in any case, has ended in terms of being considered good. We never thought about getting that many points or competing with Ferrari or Mercedes, and we were still ahead of them in the Drivers’ Championship, which is crazy.” Really, we have a car that has already achieved 6 or 7 pole positions,” he added.

He concluded: “This is the positive part of this year and then the negative part is definitely the decline in performance that we witnessed in these recent races, which we are logically working to restore to the level.”