The Imola weekend was one of mixed fortunes for Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin Formula 1 team after the promise of a brilliantly executed qualifying session was followed by a race of frustration.
With pit stop timing working against him and sending him down the order Alonso used team radio to call himself the unluckiest driver in the world, while also suggesting that the rest of the race would be “torture” for him.
On the plus side a major AMR25 upgrade package that Lance Stroll trialled on Friday and that Alonso took on Saturday worked well. The team then took a bold step for qualifying by focussing throughout on the C5 medium tyre, which others suspected might work better than the C6, but were hesitant to use.
While George Russell also took that route in Q3 Aston used mediums throughout, with Alonso Stroll progressing through the three sessions in P3/P4, P6/P7, and P5/P8 – way better than recent form suggested was likely, even with the upgrade boost.
In the early laps Alonso maintained his fifth place behind Russell and Norris before an early stop dropped him back. Like others who took that route it didn’t pay off as a VSC gave a free stop to rivals.
In addition while most of those who stopped early cut their losses and went for a second stop under the VSC, Alonso and Stroll stayed out on old rubber – and paid the price as they slipped down the order.
The full safety car later in the race at least gave them both a chance for a cheap change to new tyres, but it was too late.
Alonso made some passes and recovered to 11th, but he missed the points. It’s the first time since the dire 2015 season with McLaren that he hasn’t scored in his first seven outings of the year, and this time you can throw in two sprint races as well.
“The car was very strong today,” he said when I asked him about his race. “We started strong, and then I could follow Norris and Russell. Actually, Russell was a little bit slower than both of us. So I had to pinch myself that I was in the in the front part of the field and that competitive.
“And then we did a stop. We were okay, I think, to secure P6/P7 today with both cars. And then the virtual safety car obviously gave the opportunity to stop for free for the people that didn’t at that point. And they left the pits just in front of us already with newer tyres.
“And the race was over. So yeah, I think in 100 scenarios of the race, 99 were okay for us to score strong points for the team today, one was not, and it did happen. But let’s hope for other races that maybe we don’t deserve the points and we do score because of luck, but today I think it’s a little bit unfair.
“It was just the wrong time, the wrong moment for us, and at the wrong place.”
So should he have stopped under the VSC like Aston’s immediate rivals?
“I mean, I was out of the points. So it’s difficult to really make decisions at that time. And even at the end, I think the car was super strong, because in nine laps I overtook three cars, Nico, Lawson, Gasly.
“Our normal midfield group, they were very slow compared to us today, which is a very good sign for us, but with no points.”
It’s been a tricky year so far for Alonso, with everything that could go wrong going wrong when he perhaps had a sniff of the points.
“The whole season has been incredible, if I look back,” he said. “Australia, I felt strong. I had fire on the brakes [in China] when I was P11 at the start. And then there were three cars disqualified in Bahrain. In Miami, we didn’t stop for dry tyres.
“Today we have finally a strong car that we can score points on merit for the first time. And there is this virtual safety car. It was not virtual safety cars when we were P12, P13 in all the seven races.
“And in general as you know, my career has been always, on the on the bad part. And people that had a very average weekend, they are still top five.”
With Stroll finishing a lowly 15th the lack of points was frustrating for the whole Aston Martin camp after the promise of Saturday.
“It would have been wonderful to get a point today,” said team principal Andy Cowell. “Until the VSC, we were hoping and fighting for both cars to get points. But in this industry, you’ve got to go chasing after everything. You’ve got to make the race car quicker.
“You’ve got to make the pit stops better. You’ve got to make the detail of everything better, and then you’re not relying on good or bad luck, you’re just relying on an awesome machine and an awesome team. So that’s what we’ve got to strive towards.”
On the plus side the qualifying performance was genuine, and the indications are that there was a a positive correlation between the track and the new wind tunnel, something that the team was seeking with the upgrade package.
The successful call to use the medium tyres was also a confidence boost for a team that has been somewhat on the ropes of late.
“Being in Q3 with both cars, Fernando fifth, is a huge reward for all the hard work that this team’s been putting in,” said Cowell when I asked him about the tyre strategy.
“So yes, the mood shoots up. Picking either the soft or the medium was something that was being debated from Thursday even, as people were traveling here, exactly the way to play out. The car was quick on the soft as well as the medium in qualifying, a little bit quicker on the medium.
“But I think that the setup, the package, the understanding of the package, which is down to good wind tunnel data, good driver in the loop simulator work, do good preparation work before getting to the track. So it’s lifting all of those aspects up that’s helped this weekend.”
It remains to be seen how much the upgrade package helps at other tracks – and Monaco will be the first test.
Adam Cooper F1 