'It's Shame': Alonso Remarks After 2023 United States Grand Prix
F1Wednesday, 25 October 2023 at 15:00
Updated at Wednesday, 25 October 2023 at 16:31
Aston Martin F1 driver Fernando Alonso reflected on the 2023 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas after having to retire his car.
After defending his "extremely unlucky" teammate Lance Stroll following the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso mentioned Aston Martin needs a strong weekend in Austin.
The team brought some significant upgrades to the Circuit of the Americas. However, it soon became clear to the Spanish driver it might have been a mistake to bring upgrades to the sprint weekend.
The teams had only one practice session to adjust their cars, which apparently was not enough for Aston Martin, whose drivers could not make it out of Q1 in subsequent qualifying session.
After qualifying at 17th and 19th place on the grid, the Aston Martin team decided to make a radical change to both cars, which resulted in Alonso and Stroll having to start the race from the pit lane.
The race pace looked much better for Aston Martin cars; both Stroll and Alonso managed to get into the top ten by lap 50. That would have been a result that Alonso would be satisfied with.
But, the 42-year-old was called to bring his car into the pits on lap 51 to retire after sustaining damage. As quoted by formula1.com, the Spaniard told the media after the race:
"It was a great comeback race for us with a lot more pace in the AMR23. We were aiming to score some points, having started from the pit lane, but, unfortunately, we had to retire with some damage."
Apparently, the two Aston Martin drivers drove different versions of cars in order to collect as much valuable data for the team as possible. Alonso added:
"It’s a shame as during the race today, we looked quite competitive. We collected a lot of useful data and comparisons on the two cars today that will be crucial heading into the remaining races."
After calling the weekend "one to forget' following the sprint race on Sunday, Alonso will really want to forget everything that happened in Austin as soon as possible.
His teammate Lance Stroll, on the other hand, managed to score a great result finishing P7 after the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
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