The 2024 Formula 1 season has been a difficult one for Aston Martin, and after yet another challenging qualifying session, Fernando Alonso has identified the “perfect storm” that has resulted in the team’s struggles.

That perfect storm means Alonso will line up 17th on the grid at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with teammate Lance Stroll starting 19th.

Aston Martin’s “perfect storm” of trouble

The 2024 Formula 1 season has gone from bad to worse for Aston Martin. Though the team still sits in fifth place in the Constructors’ championship, the potential for improvement has fallen by the wayside.

In Las Vegas, this lack of performance reared its head again, with Fernando Alonso qualifying a lowly 17th on the grid. Teammate Lance Stroll will start 19th.

Alonso, speaking to assembled media including PlanetF1.com, denied that the lack of pace was shocking.

Rather, it was “a bit expected because in the last four, five months — I think after the summer break — we’ve been uncompetitive generally,” he said.

“So going out of Q1 is not an easy task for us at the moment.

“And with the improved Williams, Haas, you know, we seem to fall in that position.”

The two-time World Champion was skeptical that improvement was on the horizon, adding, “I guess in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will not be much different.

“Our fight at the moment is a little bit too much at the back, but we need to keep learning. We need to keep trying, and tomorrow, even if it’s a difficult race, we need to keep some hope that anything can happen in the race.

“We saw last year a couple of safety cars. Street circuits, the walls are very close, so maybe it’s a good day for us if we’re lucky.”

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Hoping for a safety car isn’t exactly a race-winning strategy — especially for a team that was knocked out of the first round of qualifying ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

When asked about the potential for a better race pace, Alonso again denied that it would be possible.

“I think we are normal in the position we deserve,” he said.

“We need to improve, we know that. We are at the end of the championship. The cars will be the same from now to Abu Dhabi, so they will not be miracles.

“So for us, the most important thing is to analyze, to understand what is lacking, to understand what is wrong with the philosophy of this year’s car, and try to get it better for next year.”

This year, Alonso identified two primary things have gone wrong.

“I think all the others, they are improving,” he said.

“We are racing with a very old spec car from the beginning of the year, so I think we are lacking performance for our car, and all the others, they did improve.

“So the combination of the two is the perfect storm in terms of position to be at the back.”

That “perfect storm” is far from what the Aston Martin crew would have hoped for. But with Adrian Newey signing on next year, there’s hope the team may find its footing in the future; it just needs to make it through the end of 2024 first.

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