F1 News: Fernando Alonso's Hopes of Success Dwindle - "Hopefully The Next Step Is A Good One"

Fernando Alonso admits that Aston Martin has dropped pace and unfortunately, the reason is not known yet.

Out of the first eleven races of 2023, Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso secured six podiums. However, the Spanish driver admits that the last two races have been a struggle for the team as the gap between the pack in front increases gradually. 

Last weekend at the Hungaroring, Alonso lost two spots to Sergio Perez and George Russell, thus securing the 9th position while teammate Lance Stroll finished tenth When asked if that was the best that could be done at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso said:

"Yeah, I think so. I think we weren't quick enough to challenge anyone in front, and we didn't have any threats behind. So three points, ninth and 10th, maximum today.

"I think the last two races we are struggling a little bit. I think in Silverstone the safety car helped us in a way to finish seventh, which was a little bit better than our pace.

"In Silverstone and today, ninth probably is our pace. So yeah, behind the Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, which is more or less what we saw in qualifying, and what we saw in the race."

Alonso also admitted that the cars performed consistently despite the tracks being entirely different from each other. He stressed that a detailed analysis is required to know what's what. He said:

"Yeah, a little bit. I think in Silverstone we did expect to struggle a little bit, but in Budapest we thought to be a little bit stronger. It was not the case. So we try to analyse and get back strong in Spa next week.

"We need to see many things, it's up to us to understand a little bit better what is the car 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."

Fernando went on to speak of the unpredictable nature of race outcomes with regard to the upgrades on their car. The truth is that it isn't clear to the team what upgrades would work on the car and what wouldn't. He revealed:

"Difficult to know, I mean, every race we would love to understand, and we have many questions, but we never know exactly what is the cause of it.

"In Austria, Hulkenberg and the Haas, they were fourth in qualifying, so we were all surprised. In Silverstone Williams was very fast, we were all surprised. Here Alfa Romeo was very fast, we were all surprised.

"But then in the race, normally everything balanced out and the big teams finish in front. And yeah, we are just in the back end of those top teams. So we need to get back to the front end of that group.

"We always try to bring things as everybody does. So it's not that everyone will just finish the development and wait until next year. We will all try to bring stuff.

"Some of that stuff works better than expected sometimes, some works worse than expected, and hopefully the next step on our side is a good one."

Alonso is hopeful about the upcoming races but until a detailed cause-effect analysis isn't done, it would be challenging to formulate an accurate game plan for the upcoming races.