Aston Martin’s preparations for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix have certainly been a challenge, with the Silverstone-based team having lost “three aerodynamicists” following Fernando Alonso’s podium at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
According to Alguer Tulleuda Bonifacio, who is a reporter for Diario Sport, Aston Martin have lost Grant Kennedy, Mariano Alperin and Guru Johl, since Saudi Arabia.
Alperin and Kennedy have both switched to McLaren whilst Johl has moved to AlphaTauri, meaning Aston Martin are certainly experiencing a “worrying leak of engineers”.
Despite the departures, it’s been reported by Bonifacio that the new frontrunning team “are not concerned” about the losses, with them having played a small role in this season’s AMR23.
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“However, Aston Martin are not concerned about their departure because they were important for the development of last year’s car. Their role in Alonso’s car has been practically residual,” Bonifacio said.
No matter how important the engineers were to the team’s newest car, it’s certainly not an ideal situation for Aston Martin, who are targeting a third consecutive podium this weekend at the Albert Park Circuit.
As it stands, Aston Martin are the only side who’ve been able to get somewhat close to Red Bull in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with Alonso having claimed back-to-back third place finishes.
With Alonso and Aston Martin having started 2023 so strongly, some have gone as far as labelling the double World Champion as a contender for the title this season; however, ex-F1 driver Marc Surer believes the Spaniard only stands a chance “if other drivers drop out”.
“It will only be possible if other drivers drop out,” Surer told formel1.de.
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“If Red Bull continues to have problems with reliability, Alonso will certainly have a chance. Otherwise Aston Martin need to develop the car better than Red Bull.
“It is an advantage that Aston Martin was ranked so low last year, because with the wind tunnel time that can pay off during the course of the season,” Surer added.
The 41-year-old has achieved several podium finishes in Melbourne ahead of this weekend but only one win, which came back in 2006 for Renault, the season he claimed his second world title.