Aston Martin faces tougher weekends as race pace lags qualifying

Fernando Alonso warned that Aston Martin faces tougher weekends ahead after salvaging a single point with a 10th place finish at the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, saying the team’s one-lap speed has not translated into race performance and that Mexico and Las Vegas could be among the most difficult remaining rounds. Alonso had qualified sixth in Saturday’s sprint session but was eliminated in a first-lap collision in the sprint and could not convert early promise into a stronger result on Sunday.

Alonso described a recurring pattern in which Aston Martin shows pace in practice and qualifying but fades over race distance. "In qualifying, we were stronger for sure than in race pace," he said. "It has happened a few times already this year that on Friday we are very fast, on Saturday we half fast, and then on Sunday, we are struggling more." He added that the team must "build the momentum in the last five races step by step" and said finding extra race pace for Mexico was a priority.

Team analysis ranks Aston Martin around eighth fastest on pure pace, Alonso said, though he suggested the car may have been closer to ninth in Austin based on how other teams...