Fernando Alonso urges Aston Martin to act and not be reliant on circuit specific things to be in the Top 10 and be eligible to score points.
After the up step at the start of the 2023 F1 season, a turn taken by Aston Martin has been reeling them for nearly a year now. They did start the 2024 season in a better window, but as the season progressed, they seem to have dropped to be the seventh quickest team.
Alonso has been vocal about the car being best enough only for 15th or 16th at most races, but they are still dragging it towards the points. The eighth place in Singapore GP was regarded as a dream result by the Spaniard, who did extend his contract with Aston Martin at the start of the year.
A lot of the races, they are depended on the circuit surface/layout or other factors like weather conditions to be able to fight for points. And so, Alonso has urged the team to do better and not put themselves in the situation where they are reliant on other things than their own car.
“We are seventh team, so our natural position is 13th, 14th, 15th,” said Alonso. “If we were eighth in Baku and Singapore, it was a miracle, if we were 10th in Monza, it was a miracle. I don’t think that the car at the moment is at the place where we want to have it. That’s why we keep working on the setup on Fridays, even though it’s not a setup issue, and we are waiting for new parts when they come.
“So we are not giving up. We are doing our best on the weekends. But every weekend, we cannot be with unrealistic hope, just because of the circuit, just because it may rain..we need to be realistic and accept our position. I hope so, obviously the challenge in Austin is that we come for two street circuits, Baku and Singapore, we go there, we have some upgrades – I think for a lot of the teams.
“And then we have only FP1, then we go to sprint, so looking forward to have a good Austin but at the same time, I anticipate a very special FP1 and decisions into quali.” The only upside that Alonso sees is that the cars won’t change a lot from 2024 to 2025, which is why the updates and traction that they take now will be useful next year to be competitive, before the 2026 step.
“I think so, obviously, the cars will not change too much from last part of this year to next year,” said Alonso. “I don’t see any evolution on any of the teams, so we need to make sure that we find the direction.”
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