But from 12 months ago, it’s still the biggest turnaround on the grid, and by some distance. McLaren finished last season with 159 points, which means it could end up with somewhere in the region of double the return this time around. Aston Martin? It’s already improved more than four-fold, from a total of 55 in 2023 to the current tally of 236.
And that’s where momentum comes in, because Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack is now having to defend the team given the way it has failed to progress during the season.
“I can get this impression [of being lost], but I think when you are lost you are rolling the dice and you try things that are not reasonable,” Krack says. “This is not the case. We have quite focused engineering discussions where we weigh up options against each other. While we want to go racing, while we don’t want to go from the pitlane, it is very important that we understand the findings we have in the data.
“We have to take pragmatic decisions sometimes. It’s not easy but I think it’s the right way to move forward.
“I can tell you honestly we are not [lost]. We are analysing our data and we try to take the correct solutions from it. You have very different circuits, and you could see [in Mexico] for example, in Free Practice 3 there were teams that were on the back foot that you wouldn’t have expected there, and vice-versa.”
Alonso has had to lower his sights as the season comes to an end. He was battling Tsunoda and Magnussen for 13th place at the start of the Mexico City GP before retiring
Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
A year ago, nobody saw the leap forward in competitiveness coming. Maybe Aston Martin was confident internally, but even the most optimistic of team members would be hard-pressed to convince you they were sure of the regularity they would be celebrating podiums.
So as Aston keeps running tests to try and understand what is going wrong with its car development — starting three cars from the pitlane across the past two races — the wider picture needs taking into account.
On one hand, that means reserving firm judgements on the team’s success – or otherwise – until next year’s car hits the track. If Aston learns from its struggles as 2023 has gone on and can rectify issues by February then it will suddenly be speaking in much more positive terms.
But the wider picture also includes the investment that has been made in personnel and in facilities, and to that end the downward trend of this year is particularly worrying. And as you can imagine, the boss is not encouraged.
Fernando Alonso makes his feelings clear after finishing 13th in the US GP sprint race
Grand Prix Photo
“No, Lawrence is not happy, but we are not happy either,” Krack admits. “Nobody is happy. When you have such a great start to the season and then you lose competitiveness, nobody is happy.
“We don’t need him to tell us, but we also have to accept that he is not. It’s the situation that we are in, we are a strong team and we will have to work collaboratively, open-minded, to get out of it. But we are not too proud to take any decisions.”
The momentum is all with McLaren, even comparing to Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari, and this isn’t a sport where a team with the level of backing Aston has can afford to slip so far. Krack knows just how important at least a glimmer of progress, and a hint at reversing its current momentum, could be.
“That [to be better next year] is the best recipe obviously, but it would be quite important to manage a little bit of a turnaround. The last weekends have been quite difficult in terms of results. In terms of learning they have been a bit more positive but we are measured on our results and our outcomes, so despite all the learning it is important that we finish on some good results.”
But would that be enough to turn around the narrative of the second half of the season, even if results prove to be better than the end of 2022? And will it be a case of short-term pain amid longer-term gains, or a minor uptick in a wider downward slide?
Take your pick. Momentum is a strange thing.