When interpreted correctly, statistics are a fantastic tool for achieving feats like those achieved this season in the Formula 1 World Championship by the Aston Martin team, handed over to Fernando Alonso from the first moment, the beginning and the end of a team to contextualize Less than a year ago he seemed like the ugly duckling and now he dresses up like James Bond, the character who has done the most to promote this luxury car brand. The surprise inclusion of the 42-year-old Asturian driver as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement revived the spirit of a squad emerging from a turbulent period, having undergone various changes of ownership until the arrival of the Lawrence-led conglomerate Stroll, a wealthy Canadian businessman, took over Control of the building to find a place for his son Lance. The boy’s numbers have not helped those who, like Alonso himself, insisted on praising his qualities behind the wheel.
This Sunday in Abu Dhabi (2:00 p.m., Dazn) Alonso and Stroll have the last opportunity to overtake McLaren in the constructors’ table, where the Silverstone team is in fifth place, eleven points behind McLaren. Winning this place would mean a cash injection of around five million euros, a not insignificant figure considering the losses of 50 million that Aston Martin recorded last year. The task doesn’t seem easy considering the Woking side have amassed 113 points more than their rivals in the last seven stops on the calendar. Even less after qualifying at Yas Marina, which gave Max Verstappen his twelfth pole of the season and moved Alonso to seventh and Stroll to 13th.
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Apart from the wisdom that usually characterizes McLaren in terms of the development of its car, one of the strengths of the group of Papaya cars is the equality (and competitiveness) of its two drivers. Lando Norris (starting fifth) is tickled by the young Oscar Piastri (third), who has clearly gone from less to more on his debut, to the point where he was able to achieve two podiums and win one of the races. In short, on Saturdays (Qatar), something Norris has not yet achieved. At Aston Martin, the balance is much more in favor of Alonso, who is in fifth place in the overall standings and is level with Carlos Sainz (he starts 16th) with 200 points. This means that the player from Oviedo scored 73% of the points of a team that, in his opinion, “deserved this victory more than anyone else”, which, if he had scored, would mean the famous “33”.
Regardless of what happens at Yas Marina, Alonso’s individual season has been his best in the last decade. Since the desired victory did not materialize, the eight podium places he climbed stand in contrast to Stroll’s successes. The two-time world champion’s performance with Renault (2005 and 2006) on most circuits was great, with three standout moments in Monaco and Zandvoort, where he finished second and was close to victory; and in Brazil, where no one knows how he managed to steal third place from Checo Pérez and his wonderful Red Bull.
Alonso’s certainties contrast with the uncertainty surrounding Aston Martin. Especially after the downturn suffered by the team in the last quarter of the championship – the team scored only 58 points in the last eight rounds – and at the same time as the news of the sale of a block of shares to Arctos, a fund with interests in the NBA, the NHL and MLS, as well as Liverpool, which raised alarm bells for fear of a possible Stroll scare. The Canadian doesn’t like losing on the court at all, but what he really hates is losing money.
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