Aston Martin hit with brutal 50-place grid penalty at F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

It has not been a good year to be an Aston Martin F1 fan, or driver.

After a brief twinkle of hope coming out of the summer break when Fernando Alonso bagged ninth place at the Dutch Grand Prix, things went right back to going downhill fast with a double retirement at Monza before a retirement and a 17th place finish in Madrid last time out.

Baku looks unlikely to be a happy hunting ground this week either, with both Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll taking on a bunch of new power unit components outside of their allotment, relegating them to the back of the grid long before Friday's qualifying session.

Alonso will be penalised 25 places for taking a fifth engine, a fifth turbocharger and ninth Power Unit Ancillary Component (PU-ANC), while Stroll will drop 20 places for taking on a sixth turbocharger, a seventh energy store, a sixth control electronics unit and an eighth PU-ANC.

Update: Alonso has been given an extra five-place drop for taking a new energy store on Friday.

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Grid penalties add insult to injury

Current rules state that drivers who accrue more than 15 places worth of penalties for engine component changes much start from the very back of the grid - not that either Aston driver would qualify well enough on Friday afternoon to make that at all relevant.

The team is also currently waiting for their star driver to make a decision on his future in the sport, with Alonso still not making a definitive statement on whether he'll continue in F1 and Aston execs admitting that they still don't know if they'll need to find a new team-mate for Stroll.

Asked last week how seriously Alonso is considering leaving the sport, senior team exec Mike Krack said: "Well, you ask him how serious. I mean, at the end of the day, I think we were always clear the team wants to continue.

"I think we have made it clear all through, but we need to respect what Fernando’s thoughts are.

"We need to respect the time he wants to take. And, as I said before, we’re confident we can reach a good solution for everybody. And now it’s about waiting. He needs to make up his mind and then we move on."

READ MORE: Azerbaijan GP track safety fears delays qualifying session

PRACTICE RESULTS: Azerbaijan GP times and positions