Three months ago the Aston Martin garage was filled with celebration. Fernando Alonso delivered eye‑catching performances across every classification, finishing races only to be briefly outpaced by Red Bull. He repeatedly led from the front row—three times in total—before Max Verstappen’s incredible pace overtook him, producing what many fans called the peak moment of Alonso’s storied career. Yet as the narrative moved to Barcelona, the spark dimmed. The Spaniard began slipping in the standings, ultimately settling in seventh as the team sought stability. While reports from Canada suggested a revival with a second-place finish, the broader truth remained stubborn: Aston Martin had not maintained the degree of consistency that had defined the early season. At Silverstone, Alonso faced a tough start, starting from ninth, and he did not mask the reality that points would be hard to come by in the home Grand Prix for the team. He candidly admitted after another disappointing qualification that the objective was to reclaim every possible point, signaling a long road back to the top.
“The fast cornering circuits don’t seem to be cooperating with us, yet the fight for podiums continues in Hungary, and there is a sense of confusion to navigate,” the driver reflected. He recalled how, in Austria, the team still managed to secure podiums on weekends when the car wasn’t at its best, turning those moments into solid points. The mix of a sprint race and the main event produced a fifth place in the sprint and a race result that followed suit. The outlook remained pragmatic: “Sixth, seventh, whatever it takes—Sunday will reveal what we can do. We must stay calm and minimize the damage,” Alonso asserted.
Looking at the bigger picture, the tone remained cautiously optimistic but tinged with concern. Aston Martin found itself competing not only with Ferrari and Mercedes but also with teams like McLaren, Alpine, and even Williams who were closing the gap. The team had demonstrated speed in Austria, where everyone seemed to be flying, and still managed to collect more points than some rivals. That performance, according to Alonso, did not erase the awareness of the gaps in form compared with the early races. He emphasized that progress was a work in progress: the focus was long‑term improvement rather than chasing a single race win. The World Championship, he reminded, is a marathon, not a sprint.
“Sundays have been a strong point for us, and there is faith that the momentum will return. Tomorrow could bring a better result, though it remains uncertain whether top-five finish will be achieved or if there could be a setback. There are ten Grands Prix remaining in this cycle, and ten races in the third quarter. If someone had asked me to sign up for that before the season began, I would have accepted without hesitation, and that mindset still holds,” he noted, balancing realism with resolve.
On the matter of Great Britain’s qualifying performance, Alonso explained: “I lost a tenth of a second in Turn seven. During the time trial, everyone appeared to push that corner to the limit. I had some understeer, drove longer, and accumulated more meters but with less stability. In Q3 I tried to match the pace of the field inside the limits, but the gap remained. Eighth place felt like the ceiling for us that day, with the top seven ahead and competition moving forward. Our rivals have introduced improvements, and we must acknowledge their progress. We executed well in the first nine races, and the next eleven will determine who rises or falls in the standings.” The track, Alonso added, differs from its predecessors with many fast corners, and similar challenges were evident in Barcelona and Austria. The team is slowly identifying weak spots in the current setup and pursuing changes, while keeping a clear perspective: the championship stretches to 22 races, not just the Silverstone event, so final assessments will come at year’s end. Some of the insights here come from ongoing season observations and official race data up to the present. (Attribution: Formula 1 season records and team communications.)