Neither the morning rain, nor the transition from intermediate tires to slicks as the track has dried up in qualifying in Belgium has worked the ‘miracle’ for Aston Martin, which continues to suffer for the fourth consecutive grand prix. Today, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have been relegated to ninth and tenth place, respectively. A discouraging result that the Asturian has accepted with resignation.
“The qualifying has been stressful. With the changing conditions, every lap we improved by three or four seconds. You had to trust the car, it was a guessing game. We made progress in Q1 and Q2, which was one of our main objectives. But later Q3 has been very tight and we finished a few tenths off seventh place. Ninth and tenth was the maximum we could do today”, Fernando assessed.
????️ Fernando Alonso: “It was a difficult time trial, with the changing conditions, we improved by three or four seconds on each lap”#BelgicaDAZNF1 ???????? pic.twitter.com/d09CvGAA9l
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) July 28, 2023
Tomorrow, Saturday, the two-time Spanish champion will celebrate his 42nd birthday plunged into crisis with Aston Martin after his hopeful start to the season, when he managed to chain six podium finishes with the Silverstone team.
This Friday Alonso has managed to stand out by squeezing the rainy Pirellis and for the twelfth time has agreed to the battle for pole position in Q3, being the only one to get the full this year. But once there, on soft tyres, he has been clearly outclassed by Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
With a view to Sunday’s race at Spa, which is going to be dry, Fernando is somewhat more optimistic. “I think the AMR23 has performed well today. We still need that final couple of tenths compared to our main competitors, especially on the fastest lap, but hopefully we can recover some of that pace in the race,” he warns.
2023-07-28 19:19:51
#FORMULA #Alonso #resigned #qualification #Belgium #Ninth
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