Fernando Alonso believes his seventh place in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix was a lost opportunity for Aston Martin amid Red Bull’s uncharacteristic troubles.
Despite winning every race to be held this year, Red Bull had struggled for pace throughout Friday at the Marina Bay Circuit and both its drivers succumbed to Q2 exits.
Having been uncompetitive at Monza last time out, the Silverstone side was tipped to feature at the sharp end upon F1’s return to a higher downforce circuit configuration.
However, while the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes profited from Red Bull’s rare absence at the sharp end, Aston Martin could only muster a best of seventh with Alonso after Lance Stroll crashed in Q1.
“It was tricky for us the whole day,” Alonso said. “In FP3 we were not competitive and then in qualifying we made some set-up changes.
“The car did improve but only for P7 so when it feels the Red Bulls are not dominating it feels like you are losing an opportunity to be in that position.
“This is what we had today, seventh fastest, let’s see tomorrow.”
Alonso admits Aston Martin had higher expectations before the weekend but asserts that the reality of the team’s position became apparent during practice, leaving him concerned it would be tough to reach Q3.
Although he ended up sixth-tenths away from the pole position time, the Spaniard claims his fastest effort in qualifying represented one of his best laps of the year.
Asked if Aston Martin anticipated more in Singapore, Alonso replied: “I think coming into the weekend probably, yes.
“I thought Singapore could fit our package and our car, but after FP1, FP2 and FP3 I think we went into qualifying knowing that Q3 was already a difficult task to be in the top 10, so in the end P7 feels OK.
“The lap in Q3 was very good, one of the best laps of qualifying of this year in my opinion. There was nothing more today in the car.”
Alonso reveals the set-up changes made to his AMR23 prior to qualifying were made to improve the stability of his car under braking.
However, Alonso believes that Aston Martin’s failure to capitalise on Red Bull’s sudden regression primarily derives from getting out-developed by its rivals over recent months.
Questioned on what he was searching for with the set-up alterations he opted for, Alonso explained: “Lap time, a little bit of braking stability we were lacking, the entry of the corners.
“Why we have Fridays here and we see from the FIA the improvements that everyone else brings we see that we’re missing still as a team in some development between races.
“This is a very important year for Aston Martin. We find ourselves in a very competitive position but we still need to go up as a team in many areas. We are learning on a day-by-day basis.”
Despite Ferrari claiming pole position at two successive race weekends, Alonso insists Aston Martin can still battle the Italian marque for the remainder of the year.
“In the last two races they have been flying,” he conceded. “They are too quick for us at the moment but still there are a few races to go.
“It is like the Tour De France, there are 22 stages, there are 22 races for us, not only two. They have take a lot of points here but we will make it count in Abu Dhabi.”
