Alonso laments missed opportunities with Red Bull’s recent dip, while Aston Martin F1 struggles to maintain its top four position.
Fernando Alonso expressed his frustration that Aston Martin F1 failed to capitalize on Red Bull’s performance issues.
Aston Martin F1 is enduring a tough season, having scored only 73 points at the summer break, 123 fewer than last season’s total at this stage, despite two additional races this season.
For much of last year, Aston Martin F1 was Red Bull’s closest challenger, enabling Alonso to achieve seven podiums in the first 13 races of 2023.
The Spaniard came close to victory several times, although Max Verstappen and Red Bull proved too dominant.
This season tells a very different story, with seven different drivers winning a race. For Aston Martin, the end of Red Bull’s dominance came 12 months too late.
“That’s how it is,” Alonso said.
“Last year, we were the best of the rest, but Red Bull was unbeatable.”
“They never had a bad pit stop, they never crashed, they never had bad qualifying, they never had a problem. And then we were always second or third.”
“In all the photos from my podiums last year, you see Checo and Max with me. First and second, or first and third, and I was in the middle.”
“Things have changed a bit and we weren’t there to seize the opportunity. We said several times last year that we needed to keep up, that we always needed to chase them and that when they had a chance, we had to seize the opportunity.”
“And when they started to have problems, we were no longer there. So it’s our fault if we weren’t able to keep up that pace.”
But none of that will happen this year, according to him. Even though the AMR24 lacks the speed to compete with the top four teams, Alonso said he does not think the necessary improvements that could propel it forward are likely to happen this year, with work now focusing on next season’s car.
“I don’t think so, I don’t think anything major is planned. So it’s more about us understanding the car’s weaknesses, the parts we need to improve, but I think all the work will be done for 2025 — I don’t expect any major progress in 2024.”
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Alonso Rues Missed Chance as Red Bull Falters Alonso Rues Missed Chance as Red Bull Falters
