Alonso’s great chance and further improvements are confirmed

The F1 Italian GP was the toughest of the season for Aston Martin. Alonso is 9th, no options. That doesn’t mean that for the rest of the season he’ll always aim for that result. Not much less. He should opt for podiums in other races, and perhaps to make things difficult for Max Verstappen on a date. This is what Fernando Alonso believes, just like the Aston Martin team. And in that sense, Singapore could be the best chance for Alonso to put pressure on Max after doing so in Monaco, Canada and Zandvoort.

Aston Martin’s performance at Monza was marked by the characteristics of the track and should not be regarded as a disaster for the rest of the year. In Italy, the characteristics of the track are very unusual, very specific, full of long straights and only 6 corners. Aston Martin’s main weakness this year is top speed, a key element at Monza. And that explains why Fernando was 9th after fighting the entire race with a car that lacked grip. He sweated and worked hard to achieve this.

However, the next meeting in Singapore was the opposite. A street layout, buzzard, where Aston Martin should go very well. Alonso did not hide his expectations last Sunday for Singapore, hoping to be “among the candidates”, although he knew that Max Verstappen and Red Bull did not disappoint and thus winning was very complicated. Three days earlier, Alonso also said that Singapore might not be his only option of the season, in favor of Austin and Mexico.

And on Sunday, before the Italian GP, ​​Tom McCullough, the head of performance of Aston Martin, spoke positively about Singapore. “It was a difficult weekend because of the characteristics of this track. But the next race is in Singapore. Is this the best opportunity of the year for Aston Martin after Monaco?”, asked MD in British engineer.

“Yes, it will be better. We have some improvements to come there too”, argued McCullough on the upper floor of the Aston Martin hospitality.

Expectations were high from Aston Martin in Singapore due to the track’s characteristics, full of slow 90º corners that looked perfect for the green car, and no long straights where the Silverstone car could sink.

Evolutions on a favorable track

We’ll have to see how the improvements shown at Zandvoort perform at a track like Singapore. In the Netherlands they worked well, but the race was wet and it is not known if the last podium is due to the hands of the man from Oviedo. The evolutions have improved the car and Alonso says it is better to drive and more comfortable. Now it needs to be confirmed in Singapore, where the new parts are supposed to refine the performance of the floor and diffuser that debuted in Verstappen’s home race.

Classification is key

The key is in classification. And without a doubt, Singapore should be the closest thing to Monaco. In the Principality, Fernando was close to pole position by thousandths of a second and a pit stop away from Sunday’s victory in tricky conditions. In Singapore, he will need to do similar qualifying if he wants to aim for something big, as overtaking on Sunday will be difficult.

At Zandvoort, in qualifying he was 5th, but he could have been 7th or 8th if Hamilton, Leclerc or Pérez had not failed. In Singapore, one lap he had to make a move like he did in Monaco. Although there is another unknown: McLaren and Mercedes have improved a lot since that appointment in the Principality and we have to wait to see if in this new context Fernando can aim for that first line or the third or fourth place in the ‘qualy’ that allows him to dream.