Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin endured one of their most frustrating Formula 1 weekends this season, as everything went wrong for them during the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.
Not only Max Verstappen’s winning streak came to an end in Singapore, but also Alonso’s points’ scoring run since the start of the 2023 F1 season also ended on Sunday night under the flood lights of the Marina Bay Circuit.
Alonso could not qualify higher than seventh, and during the race he lacked the firepower with his AMR23 painfully slow, as he could not match his rivals on track.
And to make things worse, the Spaniard fell prey to errors, something we are not used to seeing from him, and he received a five-second penalty as he failed to stay within the white lines while entering the pits.
Later on, under the Virtual Safety Car, Aston Martin messed up the pitstop for the #14 car, after which Alonso lost his car and ended up in the escape road which basically ended his race.
Speaking in Aston Martin‘s race report after the race: “It was an extremely tough evening: everything that could go wrong did go wrong for us.
“It’s better that it happened all in one hit – and let’s not forget it’s actually our first non-scoring race of the entire season.
Aston Martin’s high hopes shot down by Singapore’s uniqueness
“We came here with pretty high hopes, but Singapore is quite a unique event – race pace is really dictated by the temperature of the tyres – and maybe we went a little bit too hard. There are lot of things we need to investigate from this weekend – there’s plenty to take away and improve.
“We need to get better. Let’s just forget about this weekend and focus on the next one in Suzuka,” Alonso concluded.
Mike Krack reflected on a tough weekend for his team, when they had to race with one car after Lance Stroll pulled out of the grand prix following his qualifying crash.
Krack added in the team’s race report: “It has been a really tough couple of days for the team in Singapore. We only raced one car today and we look forward to seeing Lance back with us in Japan.
“Fernando’s race came undone during the Virtual Safety Car when the rear jack did not engage properly during the pitstop. We need to analyse exactly what happened. Even without this issue, scoring points would have been difficult today.
“We will move on and learn from these difficult days. There is a lot of work ahead of us: we must understand where we can find more performance. There is still a long way to go this season – seven more races with plenty of opportunities and points available.
“A final word of recognition to the crews here in Singapore, especially the mechanics, who worked long hours in challenging conditions all week. Thank you to everyone,” Krack concluded.
Aston Martin are fourth in the 2023 F1 Constructors’ Championship, 48 points behind Ferrari in third.