Aston Martin shocked the entire grid with the kind of phenomenal start they had to the 2023 campaign. Fernando Alonso registered five podiums after just the first six races. However, that phenomenal run came to an end following Alonso’s home race in Spain. Their test and reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich, has now spilled the beans on the mystery behind the slump. In his analysis, the Brazilian blamed FIA’s $135 million rule.
In a recent Motor Sport podcast, quoting Drugovich, F1 commentator and presenter Alex Brundle said, “We’ve run out of time and money to make it fast again.” Since teams now have a budget cap of $135 million, they need to limit all their spending to this amount.
In 2021, teams were allowed to spend $145 million. This amount was brought down by $5 million in 2022 and a further $5 million in 2023.
As for Aston Martin, their sudden drop in performance raised several questions. Each time, the representatives of the team blamed the wrong direction they took in their development concept.
Drugovich too maintained this viewpoint in his analysis. As per Brundle, Drugovich said, “We went for gold and made it slower.” According to the stats, Aston Martin lost approximately three-tenths of a second in terms of performance in just a few weekends.
As a result of the Silverstone-based team’s drastic drop in performance, they ended the season in P5 despite being in P2 for most of the early part of the campaign. Although Aston Martin struggled as the season progressed, Alonso still has not lost hope.
Fernando Alonso outperformed the capabilities of the Aston Martin
The success tasted in the initial weeks kept Fernando Alonso motivated to perform to the best of his ability in an underperforming AMR23. The car kept losing pace in comparison with the rivals’ development.
Alonso, however, arrived at each circuit with the will to make every opportunity count. As a result, after the Spanish GP, he delivered impressive podium finishes at the Canadian, Dutch, and Brazilian GPs.
These instances of individual brilliance are reflected in the final standings. The 42-year-old finished the season in P4 in the Drivers’ Championship despite Aston Martin only managing a P5 finish in the Constructors’ Championship.
️| Mike Krack has apologised to Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for Aston Martin’s performance slump
“I’m really sorry for our drivers that we have not maybe managed to keep up there.“
“But rest assured, we will try everything to come back.” pic.twitter.com/qSyFJH1575
— Aston Martin Formula 1 News (@AMF1News) August 3, 2023
Despite Aston Martin’s struggles, Alonso yet delivered a positive review after the end of the season. He chose to focus more on the positives from the season that can motivate the team to perform better for the 2024 season rather than calling them out on their shortcomings.
It is, however, pertinent to point out that the challenge in 2024 is expected to be much tougher. That is because most of Aston Martin’s rivals such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren seem to have found a greater understanding of the regulations in place.
