The form curve is pointing downwards: While Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes were running around the nose of the leader Red Bull in Monaco, Aston Martin came away empty-handed. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll only crossed the finish line in 11th and 14th place, giving the team from Silverstone the first pointless Formula 1 race weekend of 2024.
However, after the end of the race, one member of the Aston Martin team was curiously convinced that they had still got a point: Fernando Alonso. The red flag at the start of the race caused confusion for the Spaniard. After the race was temporarily stopped, Stroll and Alonso were in tenth and twelfth positions.
Alonso: Thought we were fighting for P10
But since race director Niels Wittich used the timing data from the second safety car line as a benchmark for the restart, Carlos Sainz, who had actually fallen behind the two Aston Martins, started again from P3. After the restart, Stroll and Alonso did their laps in P11 and P12 – contrary to what Alonso expected.
The veteran dropped more than 20 seconds behind his teammate by the 43rd of 78 laps, meaning that Stroll remained ahead of Alonso even after his additional pit stop, switching from the medium tyre to the hard compound. “I was confused because when we did that and Lance was ahead of me after the pit stop, I thought we had secured tenth place,” Alonso revealed afterwards.
Stroll drives Aston strategy into the wall
Aston Martin desperately tried to put tenth-placed Pierre Gasly under pressure again by making Stroll’s additional stop. However, it is doubtful whether it would have been enough to score a point. This was demonstrated not least by the additional stop by Max Verstappen, who made up more than 18 seconds on George Russell in just ten laps. However, the Dutchman was unable to get past. “It would have been very difficult to overtake him,” Stroll also believes with regard to Gasly.
However, this undertaking was no longer possible shortly after the stop at the end of lap 43. On lap 49, Lance Stroll touched the wall with his left rear wheel in the left-hand bend of the Nouvelle chicane and suffered a puncture – which catapulted the Canadian into the top 10 in Alonso’s world.
Alonso: Thought I was tenth for 50 laps
“Lance had the puncture and then I said: ‘Now all the responsibility is on my shoulders to bring home this point with very old tires.’ So I drove 50 laps believing that I was tenth,” Alonso describes the strange scenario.
But the joy was quickly over when he crossed the finish line. His race engineer immediately informed Alonso of the final result: P11. “I thought I was P10,” Alonso radioed back. The unequivocal answer: “No, I’m afraid not.” Nevertheless, the error had at least one positive aspect in an almost completely uneventful race. “It kept me alive,” said Alonso.
Red flag destroys alternative strategy
Aston Martin, like Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers, tried to get ahead by using an alternative strategy on the hard tyre. But this strategy element was eliminated by the red flag. “In our case, we were very unlucky again,” said Alonso.
“We didn’t have the pace. It was a bad weekend, there’s no doubt about that. We can’t hide our performance, but we also can’t hide the fact that we were very unlucky,” said the 42-year-old. “With the red flag, we had to put the medium on and do 78 laps on the medium, which is a kamikaze strategy. But it was the only way to try and score points.”
The drivers who started on the medium tyres, on the other hand, benefited from the free pit stop during the race interruption. “Overall, it was a bit unfortunate for us and extremely fortunate for others who started on the medium, were able to put on their hard tyres and drive to the end. For them, it was a magical opportunity,” said Alonso angrily.
Alonso on rule changes: Don’t listen to drivers
Alonso is therefore reopening the discussion about the rule that allows the mandatory change to a different tire compound to be made during a red phase – also for the good of the sport: “The only interesting thing about Monaco races are the pit stops that you have to do. If you take away the excitement of changing tires, nothing will happen.”
However, this is not a new discussion. The rule has been discussed again and again in recent years. Alonso’s hopes for a rule change are therefore limited. “There are many things that they have not changed. Probably because they do not listen to the drivers,” criticizes the two-time Formula 1 world champion.
Aston Martin no longer a top 5 team?
One thing is certain: Aston Martin’s first Formula 1 weekend without any points is the continuation of a downward trend that has been going on for weeks. In the last four race weekends, the team only collected eleven points – six less than the Racing Bulls. This means that the Red Bull Junior Team has moved up to 20 points in the World Championship.
“They look like they’re faster than us over the last few weekends,” said Stroll. At the same time, the 25-year-old gives the AMR24 a devastating verdict in comparison to its predecessor: “It’s difficult to see where the car is stronger.” Has Aston Martin finally fallen out of the group of top 5 teams that was very clearly visible at the start of the season? “If you look at the results, we’re no longer in the top 5 group,” says Alonso.
Aston Martin wasn’t the only one to have a disappointing weekend in Monaco. Max Verstappen also didn’t have much to gain on Sunday after a difficult qualifying session. You can read how the Dutchman fared in this article: