Fernando Alonso has called for Aston Martin to review their development plans after another disappointing race for the team at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Alonso finished in ninth place at the Hungaroring, continuing a disappointing slump for the driver and team that has seen them collect just 46 points since the Monaco GP in May.
Whilst Spain, Austria and Britain were not anticipated to be good races for the Silverstone-based team, Hungary was a circuit Alonso had identified as an opportunity to claim his 33rd career win.
Yet the reality could not be more different, as the Spaniard was close to being lapped by the race winner, Max Verstappen and it appears that the performance has promoted Alonso to ask Aston Martin to review their development path.
“We need to see many things,” Alonso said to the media. “It’s hard for us to understand what the car is doing.
“Compared to the beginning of the season, how many upgrades have we brought compared to our main competitors and then to understand the new tyres the best.
“Every race we would love to understand, and we all have many questions but we don’t know exactly what is the cause of it [loss of pace].”
Aston Martin struggles
Meanwhile, his teammate Lance Stroll, finished 10th and likewise has struggled for points as Aston Martin now appears to be the fifth fastest car behind Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
After the Spanish GP, Alonso publicly said “This is the last race without a podium” but after a brief step forwards in Canada, Lewis Hamilton is now six points behind him in the drivers standings and the Spanish driver has just the one podium to his name since.
Aston Martin lost ground to Mercedes in the constructor standings and are now looking over their shoulder at Ferrari, who have moved within 20 points of the British team.
After Monaco when Aston Martin appeared to clearly be second-best behind Red Bull.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished in Budapest, we move on to the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix which will be held at Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend of July 28-30.
