If correctly interpreted, statistics are a fantastic tool to contextualize exploits like the one achieved this season in the Formula 1 World Championship by the Aston Martin team, entrusted from the start to Fernando Alonso, the beginning and end of ‘a team that Less than a year ago he looked like the ugly duckling and now he dresses like James Bond, the character who has done the most to promote this luxury car brand. The surprising incorporation of the 42-year-old Asturian driver, replacing Sebastian Vettel, revitalized the spirit of a troop that was coming out of a turbulent period, having experienced different changes of hands until the arrival of the conglomerate led by Lawrence. Stroll, a wealthy Canadian businessman who took control of the structure to find a place for his son, Lance. The boy’s numbers didn’t help those, like Alonso himself, who insisted on praising his driving skills.

This Sunday, in Abu Dhabi (2 p.m., Dazn), Alonso and Stroll will have the last opportunity to overtake McLaren in the standings reserved for constructors, where the Silverstone team occupies fifth position, eleven points behind McLaren. Winning this place would mean an injection of around five million euros, a significant figure if we take into account the losses of 50 million that Aston Martin recorded last year. The task does not seem easy given that those from Woking have added 113 points more than their rival in the last seven stages of the calendar. Even less after qualifying at Yas Marina, which gave Max Verstappen his 12th pole of the course, which placed Alonso seventh and Stroll 13th.

Aside from McLaren’s usual wisdom in car development, one of the Papaya Car Group’s strong points is the equality (and competitiveness) of its two drivers. Lando Norris (will start fifth) is tickled by the young Oscar Piastri (third), who in his debut has clearly gone from less to more, to the point of being able to accumulate two podiums and win one of the races. on Saturday (Qatar), something Norris has yet to achieve. At Aston Martin, the balance leans much more towards Alonso, fifth in the general classification, tied with Carlos Sainz (he will start 16th) with 200 points. This means that the Oviedo player scored 73% of the points of a team that, according to him, “deserved this victory more than anyone”, which, if he had scored, would mean the famous ’33’.

Regardless of what happens at Yas Marina, Alonso’s season was his best individually in the last ten years. In the absence of the expected victory, the eight podiums he achieved contrast with the exploits of Stroll. The two-time world champion’s performances with Renault (2005 and 2006) at most circuits have been excellent, with three highlights at Monaco and Zandvoort, where he finished second and was on the verge of winning; and in Brazil, where no one knows how he managed to steal third place from Checo Pérez and his wonderful Red Bull.

Alonso’s certainties contrast with the uncertainty surrounding Aston Martin. Especially, after the slowdown suffered by the team during the last quarter of the championship – the team only added 58 points in the last eight days – and coinciding with the announcement of the sale of a package of shares in Arctos, a fund with interests in the NBA, NHL and MLS, as well as in Liverpool, which raised the alarm bells for fear of a possible scare from Stroll. The Canadian doesn’t like losing on the field at all, but what he really hates is losing money.

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