Alonso pleaded to remove his moustache as Aston reaches a new low.

      "It's becoming longer and longer, and it really doesn’t suit him."

      As Aston Martin found itself at the back of the grid at Spa, Fernando Alonso attempted to shift focus away from one of the least favorable qualifying results of his career - by sporting a moustache. Despite the team introducing its final upgrade package for 2025, which included a new front wing, both Alonso and his teammate Lance Stroll ended up on the last row. What started with some initial hope quickly took a downward turn.

      "In FP1, we managed to test the new components, and it appears to be a step in the right direction," Alonso stated on Friday. "We have increased downforce with that wing, and we are pleased with it. This is the setup we are currently utilizing."

      However, by Saturday, the two-time world champion's tone was more straightforward: "We shouldn’t be this slow. The car felt good, and I was pushing as hard as I could, but the times aren't quick enough. I achieved one of my fastest laps here, but clearly, there are competitors surpassing the track record."

      "It is what it is," Alonso remarked. "It performed better in the corners, slightly worse on the straights, but there was nothing wrong. I'm not surprised."

      Team principal Andy Cowell acknowledged that the new parts might need reevaluation. "If we’re uncertain, we’ll revert to the previous front wing and analyze the data," he mentioned. "The new nose enhances low-level airflow to the rear wing, and it should be beneficial in Budapest."

      Cowell confirmed that upgrades for Aston Martin this year have ended. "These are the final new components we plan to introduce. There will be some adjustments to cooling or downforce, but they will belong to the same family of aerodynamic parts for the remainder of the year."

      Alonso hopes rain might salvage something for Sunday. "Rain is expected, and it expands our possibilities. However, I’d rather be in the top five with a dry setup. Overtaking is challenging, visibility is poor, and we need to comprehend what’s happening here to arrive better prepared for Hungary."

      When asked if he could achieve a surprise podium like Hulkenberg did at Silverstone, Alonso chuckled: "That hasn’t happened to me in 20 years of racing. I think he must have had good luck."

      Aston's long-term focus is now clearly directed toward 2026, with Adrian Newey already dedicating his efforts to the new Honda-powered car. Cowell indicated that even the potential acquisition of Mercedes’ 2025-spec rear suspension is under consideration.

      "It’s a distraction for the 2026 development group in the wind tunnel, so we need to evaluate it carefully," he explained.

      Yet, the most noticeable sign of determination in the Aston Martin garage may be Alonso’s expanding moustache - which he began growing at the Canadian GP, much to the amusement of long-time friend and colleague Pedro de la Rosa.

      "It’s getting longer, and it doesn’t suit him at all," de la Rosa joked with DAZN. "We all agree that the moustache looks bad on him, right?"

      "In Canada, I told Fernando, 'That moustache really doesn’t look good on you.' He replied, 'You know what? I'm going to let it grow even longer.' And with every race, it looks worse on him.

      "But since he’s so stubborn and wants to defy opinions, he’s keeping it. I think he’s keeping it just to annoy me."