F1: Alonso Remains Positive About 2023 Despite Aston Martin's Late-Season Struggles

The Aston Martin F1 team surprised everyone by starting the 2023 season with six podium results in the first eight races, putting the team in third place in the Constructors' Championship after the Canadian Grand Prix in June. However, the team's luck has recently turned for the worst, as they have managed just one podium in the last 11 races and have fallen to fifth place in the standings, behind such teams as Ferrari and McLaren. During the previous two races, at least one of their cars began from the pitlane as the team worked to understand their relentless troubles. Furthermore, Fernando Alonso was forced to pull out of back-to-back races because of unavoidable floor damage.

After a fantastic first half of the season, Alonso was comfortably in third place in the championship standings as of mid-September. However, he has since fallen to fifth. In the next three race weekends, he expects to be passed by drivers like Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, and George Russell. In spite of his and teammate Lance Stroll's retirements from the Mexico City Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso is adamant that 2023 has still been an "incredible season" for Aston Martin.

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F1: What did Fernando Say?

Alonso got off to a great start this year, as he finished on the podium six times in the first six races. Since the summer break, however, he has only made one more podium appearance, and that was at Zandvoort. To add insult to injury, he has dropped out of the last two races.

When questioned about whether dissatisfaction was starting to mount, Alonso responded: “Obviously, we would love to keep fighting for podiums, but we are not in that position unfortunately. But no, it’s not frustration yet, this year has been an incredible season for us. So, even if we DNF the remaining races, 2023 is still a good season, but hopefully, we can revert this situation and we can finish on a high.”

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F1: Aston Martin Cota Upgrades

For the US Grand Prix, Aston Martin introduced a set of upgrades in an effort to revive the AMR23's performance. However, it was challenging to have their cars optimised for the sprint format at COTA during FP1. After a disappointing showing in the Saturday sprint with the updated AMR23, the team took the chance of leaving Parc Fermé on Sunday. Both vehicles left the pits with revised aerodynamic kits and suspension settings.

After making significant progress in the main race, Alonso was forced to pull out when a large section of the bottom of his car disappeared. Aston Martin's brake issues in FP1 at the U.S. Grand Prix meant that the weekend wouldn't go as planned, despite the team's best efforts to fix their problems with the new adjustments. While Alonso's car was reset to its Qatar-spec configuration for the Grand Prix, Stroll's sixth-place result in a car with the new enhancements provided some much-needed optimism.