While the modern-day running of Aston Martin has no affiliation to the failed venture from the 1950s other than in name and livery, the sight of seeing the metallic green cars jostling at the front and scoring consistent podiums is an unusual sight in Formula 1 – but it is not a feat out of the ordinary for the Silverstone-based outfit it took over.
Fernando Alonso followed up his podium on his debut with Aston Martin in Bahrain by clinching a second consecutive third-place finish two weeks later in Saudi Arabia.
The Spaniard’s achievement matched that of Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1999 when he flew out of the blocks in the Jordan 199 to also score two podiums, albeit with the caveat of the German standing on the second step rather than the third one at the Australian Grand Prix of that year.
Fittingly, a visit to the Albert Park Circuit is the latest trip on the calendar for the third round of a record-breaking 23 scheduled to take place across the 2023 season, and the track where a third trip to the rostrum would see Alonso create history by establishing himself as the driver to make the outright best start to an F1 year in the Silverstone side’s history.
With Aston Martin retaining the second fastest car across the weekend in Jeddah, similar track characteristics in Australia stand the green-liveried team in good stead. Mercedes driver George Russell believes the balance of power will remain the same as a fortnight ago, making Alonso’s chances of registering a third consecutive podium a realistic possibility.
While the addition of a fourth DRS zone for this weekend’s event could see Aston Martin’s straight-line inefficiency be its undoing in qualifying, the race pace of the highly impressive AMR23 has reached staggering levels that the competition is still struggling to comprehend.
Having finished a lowly seventh twice in the Constructors’ Championship since the group morphed into Aston Martin, the British marque’s sudden transformation into a front-running threat has caught other teams by surprise. Unlike its rivals who chose to adopt a process of evolution for the second year of the latest technical rules, the AMR23 underwent significant changes to address the shortcomings of its underwhelming predecessor, with over 90 per cent of its current car being new.
The relative risk in making such substantial changes, however, has handsomely paid off. It’s hardly surprising that an Adrian Newey disciple in Dan Fallows has spearheaded a design project that has produced such a formidable race-day competitor. The AMR23 is a well-balanced, hugely compliant machine that possesses the added benefit of being delicately light on its tyres.
While sides like McLaren and the Renault Group in its various forms had been unable to break free of the midfield pack in the past, Aston Martin has managed to achieve that at the first time of asking and immediately latched onto two of the big hitters in the sport in the form of Ferrari and Mercedes.
Such has been the dominance of Red Bull, though, Alonso has admitted he’s unlikely to contest a race win in normal circumstances. But, ever the optimist, the two-time champion is confident that an opportunity will arise at some stage in the year.
Much like the opening to this season, Red Bull appeared in cruise control throughout the second half of last season, but a wrongful choice on set-up during a Sprint event in Brazil compromised its weekend and opened the door for Mercedes to pounce at Interlagos. Alonso is under no illusion that he would require a similar situation to unfold in his favour to turn frequent podiums into ending his near 10-year wait for an elusive 33rd victory in F1.
Indeed, it would take a ginormous effort to better what Frentzen eventually accomplished during his massively impressive ’99 campaign. The German accrued two victories and three further podiums alongside a bunch of fourth-place finishes to place an unexpected third in the Drivers’ standings, 22 points behind eventual champion Mika Hakkinen.
With that remaining under the old points system where 10 points were awarded to the winner down to a singular point for the driver classified in sixth, Frentzen’s tally would have stood at 181 if the modern-day points formula was used. Accounting for 16 rounds taking place in ’99, that would equate to a scoring rate of 11.3 points per race today.
Alonso is currently attaining 15 points per round, meaning he is on track to surpass what Frentzen managed. But with Ferrari and Mercedes not likely to lie down, it will be a hard task for Aston’s lead man to maintain his excellent scoring streak. Even if he was to fall short, however, it would not represent an unsuccessful debut season in green for the 32-time race victor.
Promisingly for the two-time champion and his new team, Aston Martin is undoubtedly better equipped than the previous occupants of the Silverstone site to build upon such a glittering year.
While mounting a challenge for the Championship will probably come too soon this year, the opportunity for wins later in the season can’t be ruled out yet, even despite Red Bull’s early dominance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Aston Martin has made the biggest gain of any team in race pace terms at the opening two rounds and have always been recognised as strong developers during a season through its many guises.
Additionally, up until a reset this summer, Aston Martin can take advantage of more allocated aerodynamic testing time to work with than its chief rivals, including a huge 27 per cent more than Red Bull.
Although Aston Martin unquestionably has a much stronger base to build upon than its troubling position last year, there is no reason to think its ascent towards the top won’t continue across the second half of the year, with the team insistent that more developments are set to come.
There is a likely chance that it could match Jordan’s position of third in the Constructors’, which would arguably be an even more impressive achievement considering it would have overcome one of Ferrari or Mercedes to do so.
Jordan in its own right was a remarkable season at the time. With a limited budget, the Irish entity took on some of the biggest manufacturers to put Frentzen in contention for the Drivers’ crown with three rounds to go. However, the scarce funds available at its disposal would be its undoing in improving on that come the turn of the millennium.
While Jordan managed to remain a member of the midfield scene and achieved a win against all odds in the rain at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the team plunged into the depths of financial peril, leading to extreme on-track performance struggles and the team subsequently being sold on.
Comparatively, Aston Martin is an automotive giant, and the current restriction on spending via the cost cap has promoted an even playing field in the modern era of the sport. With the construction of a brand new factory to move into as well, Aston Martin has both the facilities and resources to maintain but also go beyond its current level of competitiveness.
That will be substantially aided by the fielding of a star driver at the top of his game in Alonso: a world-class operator that belongs at the front of the F1 field. Despite persistently being handed cars that undermined his illustrious talent, the ex-Alpine racer has never lacked motivation. But even Alonso has appeared re-energised by the prospect of seeing a shot at a third title become a possibility rather than only a distinct dream with his latest career switch.
For all the hysteria rightfully surrounding Alonso’s heroics right now, his team-mate’s credible performances in the sister car must not be forgotten. As son to the man who leads the consortium that owns the team, Lance Stroll is going to form a long-term part of the Aston Martin brand in F1 and his development will be a critical asset to its chances of enjoying future success in the sport from a Constructors’ standpoint.
While Frentzen was greatly impressive in what he was able to extract from the Jordan 199 car, ex-F1 champion Damon Hill was unable to live with his team-mate’s raw speed and consistency in the twilight of his career, eventually calling it quits before the year was out.
Despite criticism questioning his personal enthusiasm to succeed, Stroll’s comeback from a serious cycling accident provided evidence of how serious he is about racing. The Canadian driver put in a solid appearance in Bahrain to come home in sixth and was potentially on course to out-qualify Alonso to seal a surprise front-row starting berth in Saudi Arabia before a minor error at the start of the final sector.
Stroll has surprised many with his early form in a competitive car to ensure Aston’s current Constructors’ effort is marginally better than what the Frentzen-Hill duo had managed at the same stage during the ’99 campaign.
Participating in his fifth season with the team, Stroll has been attentive to all the trials and tribulations the Silverstone squad has been through. However, arguably none as low as last year’s Australian GP, when a nightmare weekend consisted of four crashes and a pointless showing to leave it bottom of the teams’ standings.
This time around Aston Martin heads Down Under with vastly more optimism as Alonso goes in search of a slice of history. The Spaniard will be hoping that any further accolades to come in the ’23 campaign be a building block towards future success rather than stopping short as his best season with the Silverstone squad like it transpired to be for both Frentzen and Jordan.
