Fernando Alonso reflects on Aston Martin’s pursuit of improvement in F1, emphasizing the tight race for performance against top teams.
Alonso anticipates a “great challenge” for Aston Martin F1 in Formula 1 following a tight Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Alonso secured fifth place in Jeddah, ahead of both Mercedes F1 drivers, Oliver Bearman and Lando Norris in the second Ferrari and McLaren, marking the team’s best result of the year so far, after qualifying in fourth place.
Aston Martin has not started 2024 as strongly as in 2023, with the AMR24 now firmly positioned in the midfield group behind Red Bull and Ferrari, yet Alonso remains optimistic about the effectiveness of improvements.
He believes there’s a gap of about two to three tenths to Mercedes and McLaren.
“I’m really pleased with the race result, ahead of a Mercedes, a McLaren, and a Ferrari – that’s the maximum we can hope for at the moment.”
“In the race, we noticed we’re still lacking two or three tenths to Mercedes and McLaren, maybe a bit more compared to Red Bull and Ferrari in qualifying, but it’s quite close.”
“We just need to keep working on race pace. It was better because we introduced new parts on Thursday and then worked very well, making a step forward in terms of performance.”
“When George [Russell] passed Nico [Hulkenberg], they were coming so fast, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is going to be a tough race’, but we managed to keep George behind us for the entire race.”
“Yet, we’re still missing two or three tenths and will continue to chase this performance. It’s a challenge but an interesting season ahead.”
“Let’s see how Australia goes. I think we made a small step between Bahrain and Jeddah. We’re fast on a single lap but in race conditions, we normally can’t beat the McLarens and Mercedes if we’re a few tenths slower.”
“We were just lucky to be ahead of them; they made mistakes. We need to find solutions for the next race.”
Fernando Alonso thus keeps the pressure on Aston Martin as speculation continues about his imminent contract negotiations for 2025.
Pedro de la Rosa, his long-time confidant and now team ambassador for Aston Martin, stated, “The computers didn’t indicate fifth as a possible finish, and that’s because of the human factor. And thank God for that, we have a champion on board.”
De la Rosa agrees that the problem the Silverstone-based team must address is excessive tire degradation over long stints.
“When you want and need to improve in F1, you can only achieve it with changes or improvements. It’s no secret. The team’s goal isn’t to race with the same car twice in a row. There’s no improvement plan for Australia, but evolutions are in the pipeline and will be released soon.”
And de la Rosa said Aston Martin now needs to show that its upgrade program is on par with the best teams.
“You improve, but so do others. And compared to others, sometimes your improvements are less, which gives the impression things are getting worse. That’s what Aston Martin wants to reverse from this year: to be on par with the top teams in this race too.”
Alonso Performance Chase f1 2024. Alonso Performance Chase f1 2024.
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