Fernando Alonso's sole objective in the seemingly hopeless Baku: Preserve components for F1's upcoming triple-header.

On Baku's 2km-long main straight, Alonso was a staggering 30km/h slower than Mercedes' George Russell during the second free practice session, and while the gap was less pronounced in qualifying, the Astons still found themselves three seconds behind the Q1 leader and four seconds adrift of Russell's eventual pole lap.

In any case, qualifying held little significance for Aston as both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll incurred their latest engine penalties, resulting in a significant drop in the grid position. With Williams's major chassis upgrade allowing it to move away from the back, it's Aston versus Cadillac again in the quest for credibility.

As the Caspian city marks the beginning of a three-week stretch that includes races in Malaysia and Singapore, Alonso was realistic about the lack of rewards for Aston by pushing too hard in Azerbaijan.

Fernando Alonso paired sartorial elegance with sardonic wit in Baku

When asked about his objective for Saturday's race, the two-time F1 world champion stated: "Try to finish the race, avoid mistakes like I did today, and keep the car intact. We're vying for not many significant positions, so it's crucial to preserve the car for the triple-header. With three races ahead, we need to be mindful of the stock parts and related factors."

Honda's engine performance and reliability are fixed, so Alonso concentrated on the aspects he could influence, aiming to optimize the car's set-up to the best of his abilities. Drivers can only evaluate their performance relative to the maximum potential of their own package, rather than wistfully comparing themselves to neighboring teams. Over a grueling season of more than 20 races with uncompetitive machinery, the latter approach is not a viable way to proceed.

"Today I feel much more satisfied with the car than I did yesterday," Alonso remarked, seeking the silver lining. "We implemented several set-up changes overnight, and I gained a lot more confidence in FP3 and qualifying. I was able to push the car and the times were coming more easily, I think it was 2.5 seconds [2.9s, ed] from the top of the field today.

"Given the deficits we have on the straights, we’ve made progress in the corners since yesterday. There’s still a long way to go; we need to keep enhancing both the chassis and the engine and strive to improve."

With power-thirsty Baku already a lost cause prior to the weekend, Alonso supported the choice to address his engine penalty this weekend, hoping that Singapore, in particular, will present an opportunity for him to contend in the midfield once again on a much more twisty layout that aligns better with Aston Martin's relative strengths.

"It's the same specification, so it delivers the same performance, but we had to accept some penalties to finish the season," the Spaniard noted. "I’m uncertain if we need to incur more, but occasionally we have to utilize the less competitive weekends. This was one of those, to prepare for newer parts for Malaysia and Singapore, where we have higher expectations."