Aston Martin’s performance in 2023: A little short

Alpine had lost both Oscar Piastri, who joined McLaren, and Fernando Alonso, who went to join the British ranks of Aston Martin.

Doubts were rampant in the face of this new career choice: Aston had just come off a rather average 2022 season, lacking the necessary resources, and had only achieved one podium finish since 2021. The grandiosity displayed by Lawrence Stroll might have led one to believe that it would be a flop, just like Jaguar in the early 2000s…well, not at all: the surprise was a success!

Car Performance

The AMR23 has opted for a car inspired by the Red Bull in its design, especially in terms of the progressively downward turned side pods at the rear. And the first Grand Prix races have revealed a huge surprise!

Fernando Alonso, first and foremost, held his own against Ferrari and Mercedes all by himself: the AMR23 proved to be very agile under his control, economical on tire wear, despite a top speed well below the powerful Honda engine of the Red Bull.

Lance Stroll, on the other hand, has had a terribly lackluster start to the season, failing to secure any podium finishes. Of course, his broken wrist at the beginning of the season could be seen as a mitigating circumstance. However, the miracles that Alonso performed in the British car did not occur for the Canadian driver. While Alonso was achieving wonders (such as in Miami), Stroll had a string of zero-point races.

Things were still looking up for N°18, who woke up towards the end of the year. But infinitely too late to allow Aston Martin to finish 3rd (or better) in the constructor’s championship.

At the Green team, we do not have the development and engineering capabilities that big factories possess. This is why the AMR23 had a significant setback for a good portion of the year. And as a result, valuable points were lost. Hence, perhaps, the importance of having more unique concepts in an overly (and overly) regulated F1, in order to be able to develop according to one’s own means and methods.

But this superb season, with Alonso’s eight podium finishes, is more than promising for 2024: provided that we don’t trip over with a concept that doesn’t work.

Reliability

Overall, the AMR23 hasn’t been too troubled by mechanical issues. Fernando Alonso has only suffered two retirements (in Austin and Mexico), while Stroll has been let down by his car’s whims only once (his two other retirements, in Monaco and Japan, being due to accidents).

The only major problem for Aston Martin this year has been the consistency of their performance: brilliant at the beginning of the season (at least with Alonso) and completely off the pace for the rest of the year, except for a few races.

The Mercedes engine completed more laps with the official team than with its English client. The optimization was therefore generally good for the Greens: it is now up to them to find more performance.

Optimization of the strategy

Aston Martin has been a rather good student in race strategy: greatly aided by Fernando Alonso’s experience, Ferrari and Mercedes have often found themselves trapped by a few tricks, especially in Bahrain and Zandvoort.

But in Monaco, a huge joke happened: Verstappen and Red Bull didn’t change tires at the right time, when the rain came, and Aston Martin, with the pouring rain in front of their eyes…gave Alonso medium tires, when the intermediates would have given him his 33rd victory in F1.

This only hurdle, which resembled a blatant refusal to win, symbolized Aston Martin’s only opportunity for victory of the season, in contrast to their excellent performance in races like Brazil. But let’s not talk about the peculiar situation in Austria, where Alonso refused to pass Lance Stroll.

Teammate duels

Qualifications – Alonso: 19; Stroll: 3

Course – Alonso: 19; Stroll: 3

Lance Stroll wasn’t necessarily bad in qualifying, often making it into Q3 without much trouble. But the facts are there: Alonso simply destroyed the Canadian, who was never able to secure a single podium. Only beating your teammate three times in a 22-race season is very indicative of the difference in level. And also of involvement.

A stroll as fit as he was towards the end of the season would have been a great help in achieving a podium for the constructors.