Fernando Alonso was concerned recently about the direction Aston Martin was going in but F1 Brazil GP has helped in easing of it.
After a solid start to its campaign, Aston Martin were pushed back after series of updates which seemingly didn’t sync in straight on. The updates brought about in US GP took a couple of races to set in where they were forced to a pitlane start.
But things got a bit better in Brazil where both the Aston Martin cars were looking racy and Alonso eventually prevailed in a direct fight against Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to secure a podium finish – the team’s first since the Zandvoort weekend just after summer break.
Amid the struggles, Alonso admits of concern for the direction they were going especially keeping 2024 in mind, but the Spaniard was relieved to find some pace in Brazil. “It is very nice,” he said. “I think we’ve been struggling for a few months. But the last two races were probably quite painful.
“We had to experiment a little bit on a few things on the car to really understand the direction that we were going and we have to go for next year’s car as well. So those races were painful, especially Mexico. I think we were very slow as a team, as a performance and yeah, I think it was nice to see everyone in the team very focused, the determination in the team was so nice from the outside to see and to go deep in the analysis and get back stronger here in Interlagos.
“So that was nice to witness from the outside, in a way, and to see everyone united into the same direction. And yeah, I was a little bit concerned, no doubt, for the last few races and maybe the final part of the championship and now, yeah, I cannot wait to go to Vegas. So it’s a very different energy when you have a performing car,” summed up Alonso.
With two rounds remaining, Alonso is hopeful of a good finish. They can’t win back fourth which they lost to McLaren but can score more points. “I think so,” he said when asked if the form can continue. “At least closer to these than Mexico, that’s for sure. I think there are a couple of things that have been understood inside the team and the direction to go and we had some hopes for Brazil and they proved to be right.
“And now, why not to be competitive in the last two. I don’t know if [it would be] the level of the podium. In Brazil, we had a good race. We had Charles, obviously, going off on the formation lap with the problem. We had the Mercedes underperforming, Checo starting at the back, so there were a couple of factors that helped us to be on the podium. But, you know, hopefully in the mix, that will be a happy place for us.”
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