Big questions for Alonso, Aston Martin and British F1 GP

After what we’ve seen in the first nine races of the year, especially the improvement seen by teams such as: Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLarenonly appears to have a clear conviction. Verstappen and Red Bull They are even more favorites in GP UK F1 2023 It delivers excellent performance in high-speed curves.the trajectory of silverstone It perfectly fits the already excellent characteristics of the car in all layouts. But everything from there is unknown. Especially the rhythm you get. aston martin At the home Grand Prix in front of the head office.

What will Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso do at Silverstone? That’s one of the big questions. Above all, the green cars had a big difference in performance over the last few tracks. In Barcelona, ​​unusually cold asphalt, design changes with the removal of the final chicane and Alonso’s difficult classification in the wet meant the Oviedo native had no chance of contending for podiums. There, many took it for granted that Mercedes was already ahead of Aston Martin in developing its new evolution package. But Canada arrived and Aston Martin was once again the second best car on the track, closer than ever to Red Bull. This time it was a high speed course with long straights and again a course with low asphalt temperatures.

The new package introduced in Canada seems to have paid off, with the team hoping to be faster in Austria after studying the new parts and figuring out how to optimize the car’s set-up with those improvements. . In Austria, however, Fernando Alonso finished sixth (fifth after Sainz’s disposition), trailing several sunken Mercedes behind Lando Norris’ McLaren, which had taken a big step forward in its evolution.

For this reason, Fernando Alonso should not be pessimistic after the race or draw positive or negative conclusions from each race passed, the results and performance of the car depend on the characteristics of each track. We made it clear that it can change throughout the year. To the great equality that exists in the group chasing Red Bull. Alonso said the Red Bull Ring was one of the worst tracks for his team as it historically never worked out. He could have an impact on not participating in podium contention. At Silverstone they hope to do better.

In fact, he had already warned in Barcelona a few weeks ago. “I’m very happy. And I’m very happy with the second goal from Monaco. And a bad weekend is coming, you know! And I don’t know if it will be this time or one car, We have 2 Red Bulls, 2 Ferraris, 2 Mercedes and maybe we will be 7th or 8th there and I will continue to be happy because this project is a long term “Because it’s a thing and it’s not something that goes on from weekend to weekend. It could be other teams in the short term. We have a mission and it’s a longer term one.”he argued in this regard, ensuring that his car would give him more chances to fight for or come close to victory all year long on other types of tracks.

The guy from Oviedo did nothing wrong. Now, his fans are looking forward to Silverstone to see if Alonso can improve on the pace he showed in Austria and improve by one lap in qualifying so he can fight for the lead without being robbed of the podium in ‘qualifying’. It depends on many factors in the circuit in which things historically happened. For example, after a puncture and Verstappen’s vehicle trouble last year, a dominant Hamilton sweated to win on three wheels.

upgrade pack

The first factor is new package optimizations. First of all, for this British F1 GP, we will complete it with some novelties that are due to arrive in Alonso and Lance Stroll’s cars in a package that has been brought to Canada.

In that sense, the optimization of settings by this new improvement may also be a point. Aston Martin was born out of little experimentation with settings in Canada (due to rain on Saturday) and Austria (only one practice session before the sprint weekend). At Silverstone, rain permitting will allow Alonso and Aston Martin to continue extracting data to optimize car settings at the Silverstone circuit. This is key to finding the perfect balance that allows Fernando to fight for a better position than Austria. .

Fast corners and cold tracks

Another important point is the composition of the track. The combination of fast corners and low temperatures didn’t work out for us in Austria. In Canada, the combination of long straights and cool temperatures had an effect. Silverstone doesn’t seem like the perfect track for Aston Martin to shine, but they hope to do better than Austria, and with the rain on Saturday, Alonso was forced into a rough river to get a good starting position. I will try fishing in

A big step forward for Ferrari

Another key point in podium contention will be the rivalry between Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. After Canada and Austria, Mercedes should improve, but it seems hesitant. McLaren took a big step in Austria and should already be in the battle with two cars. For in Austria only Rand Norris brought the novelty. And above all Ferrari.

Ferrari have a very fast car on one lap and seem to be correcting their race pace on Sunday very well. This is a litmus test for Ferrari to see if it can truly overcome its setbacks and become a strong contender for the podium next to Red Bull. Ferrari’s strength is not in the fast corners, but it did very well in Austria and could be a good match for Aston Martin with a new package unveiled in Barcelona and Austria followed by new improved parts.

new tires

The final question is about the new tires from Pirelli. Pirelli believes that incorporating new tires with stiffer casings (for safety) will not change the car’s performance. But from Italy: “The new front tire has a slightly stronger construction and this could indirectly affect tires with less solid fronts, namely Aston Martins and Ferraris. Indeed, Ferrari. Frédéric Vasseur, head of F1, warned: After the Austrian Grand Prix it became clear that the new tires could be a ‘game changer’. That means it could change the standings of the tires so far and, if not to the level of reaching Red Bull, could cause an important change in the persecution. group. Let’s see if that’s true.