“Where has Aston Martin’s pace gone? Who do you believe? Team aren’t telling us”

Aston Martin slumped to ninth and 10th at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, the lowest ebb of a season that is petering away after such a promising start.

Alonso only managed P7 at Silverstone prior to Hungary, with McLaren and Mercedes, and now even Ferrari, establishing themselves above Aston Martin in the pecking order.

Sky’s Ted Kravitz asked: “What has happened to Aston Martin’s pace?

“Alonso is blaming the new construction of the tyres that we had at Silverstone.

“The team are saying ‘it’s not the tyres, Aston’s gap to Red Bull has stayed as it is, and everybody else has improved to fill that gap’.

“I don’t know. Who do you believe?

“I’m tempted to believe Alonso because I think something has changed since Silverstone.

“Fernando is wise enough to know what it is.

“I think the team aren’t telling us because, well, they don’t.

“I’m with Fernando. I think they’ve suffered quite badly from the new construction of Pirelli tyres since Silverstone.

“How do they get themselves out of this particular pickle? They have upgrades. Something small for Spa, bigger things after the summer break.

“They are going to need it. Because they are now the third or even fourth quickest car in F1, maybe even the fifth quickest.”

The F1 Belgian Grand Prix is next weekend.