'One to forget': Alonso Already Disappointed With 2023 United States Grand Prix Weekend
F1Sunday, 22 October 2023 at 13:00
Aston Martin F1 driver Fernando Alonso expressed his disappointment concerning the 2023 United States Grand Prix after unsuccessful qualifying and sprint.
Aston Martin has struggled in the last few races compared to its main competitors, Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren. The team's driver, Fernando Alonso, recently admitted he was probably "too optimistic" after a great start to the season.
At first, Aston Martin seemed like the only team that could challenge dominant Red Bull Racing. However, the performance of the team went down compared to others.
Consequently. Aston Martin was overtaken by Mercedes and Ferrari and now, it is being chased down by an accelerating McLaren which is only 6 points behind before the start of the race on Sunday.
The British team brought some upgrades to the Circuit of the Americas for this week's Grand Prix, hoping for improved results, but the opposite is true so far.
Both Aston Martin drivers failed to get through to Q2 in qualifying for the main race. Sprint Shootout saw improvements from the duo, but neither of the drivers could get into SQ3.
And, the Sprint race did not turn out much better for the team, with Lance Stroll retiring a few laps before the end and Alonso finishing in P13 outside of points. The Spaniard told the media after the sprint:
"It was tough, it is a difficult weekend. We've been uncompetitive since FP1, difficult qualifyings, and now lack of pace also in the race. So far, the weekend has been one to forget."
Alonso suggested earlier that the team might not have made the smartest choice by bringing upgrades to the Sprint weekend, which includes only one practice session before the qualifying.
The teams cannot make bigger adjustments to their cars after the qualifying begins, so Aston Martin is currently stuck in this position, and its drivers have to make the best of what they have. Alonso concluded:
"There are some better and worse weekends, this is one of the bad ones and we need to keep learning, we need to keep doing laps and help the team optimize this new package."
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