Fernando Alonso is pleased that Aston Martin is heading in the right direction, but notes about McLaren’s step in Austria and taking inspiration from it.
For couple of seasons now, Aston Martin has had a hard time. They started off well in 2023 but dropped off. They had a decent start to 2024 as well, but dropped off hugely. It is another process of getting things in right place for 2025 and beyond – where 2026 is a totally new chapter anyhow.
He feels there is momentum now and that Aston Martin is heading into right direction, as personnel continue to join in. “The next few months will be interesting with Enrico Cardile joining the team, Adrian in March,” said Alonso. “I think the new factory is now completed. Also, the new wind tunnel is going to be open soon. Andy Cowell, I think, did change already some of the weaknesses that he found in the team.
“We have trust on the new management. Things are moving in the right direction, so I’m happy for that. But in Formula 1, there are not many miracles. Yeah, 2026 new rules, Honda coming to the team, so exciting times, happy to be in the team in this transition and this exciting project and enjoying every process of it,” summed up Alonso.
The Spaniard reiterated on looking at how McLaren has popped up in the standings. He noted how their Austria package made the difference in their trajectory and how Aston Martin can take advantage of their progress and even inspiration from them to progress to the top.
“You need to be passionate, you need to find that sweet spot in the car, you need to find that upgrade that really awakes everything in these ground-effect cars as McLaren improved last year, started last, and then scored podiums by the mid-season,” said Alonso. “We need to learn from them.
“This is a good example of how things can be done. We will try to reset this winter and come back stronger. Yes [we can take inspiration]. The biggest change was last year. They did not do much in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. They did not do much in 2023 until Austria when they were near the podium.
“In Austria they introduced a package, they gained six, seven tenths or whatever – and that was the beginning of a series of packages that put their car as the fastest, eventually. So that Austria package, if we want to call it that, is something we need to work on,” summed up Alonso.
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