Fernando Alonso’s Italian Grand Prix qualifying ended with Aston Martin stranded near the back, and a video appearing to show the driver kicking his legs in frustration, well it’s how we’re all feeling right now about the team. Alonso qualifed 21st at Monza after Aston Martin’s AMR26 failed to escape Q1 once again, although penalties for three other drivers later moved him to 18th on the provisional grid.
The result was especially painful because Monza rewards preparation, and Alonso had spent the weekend working on slipstream runs. The frustration is easy to understand: Aston Martin seemed to release Alonso into the wrong packs of traffic, and they also failed to fit new tires to his car for the second attempt. That strategy left Alonso with very little room to recover when the first run failed to deliver.
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According to AS, Alonso’s fastest lap in Q1 was on used tires, and he did not return to the track afterwards due to an engine issue.
His deficit was enormous. Pierre Gasly’s Q1 time left Alonso 2.7 seconds adrift, a gap that proves that Aston Martin’s troubles are far from over. On Friday, Alonso placed 21st in FP1 with a 1:26.072 and 19th in FP2 with a 1:25.027. He was 2.468 seconds off George Russell’s FP2 pace and 1.174 seconds slower than the quickest Williams.
The speed-trap numbers were just as grim. During qualifying, Alonso reached a speed of 314 km/h, whereas Russell achieved 338 km/h. Given Monza’s layout, a circuit that necessitates power and lots of it, a 24-km/h deficit isn’t going to line you up for a strong weekend.
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“Fernando had an electrical issue in the garage which delayed the start of his running in FP2,” Pedro de la Rosa said. The bad luck seemingly continued.
Hopefully we receive more information on what happened to Alonso’s car when his interviews come through.
