Fernando Alonso emphasizes the need for Aston Martin to enhance their in-season car developments.
The Spanish driver’s outstanding performances have propelled the significantly improved team to third place overall in the constructors’ championship.
Alonso’s impressive lead over his teammate, Lance Stroll, who is the team owner’s son, highlights the potential for Aston Martin to challenge Red Bull if both drivers were equally competitive.
Stroll rejects claims that he is dragging the team down.
“First of all, I couldn’t do pre-season testing because of my broken wrist,” the Canadian explained to RTBF at the Hungaroring. “I’ve also had a lot of bad luck.
“I was fourth in Jeddah before I had a problem. In Miami, we had problems in qualifying, the same in Monaco. We had bad luck with the strategy in Canada and Silverstone.
“It’s difficult to judge these things in terms of points,” Stroll defended.
“The moment, Alonso is a little faster,” the 24-year-old admitted. “I have to improve in certain areas to become stronger in the second part of the season.”
However, Alonso believes that Aston Martin also needs to improve, noting that the 2023 car has entered a slump that might be linked to the Pirelli compound change at Silverstone.
“But we have to improve. We haven’t brought too many improvements throughout the championship,” the Spaniard acknowledged.
“Now that all the teams publish what’s new, it’s easy to go back and see all the documents and observe which teams made the fewest changes. We are among those who made the fewest developments, and as a team, we have to grow – not just on the track but also in the factory and the pace of our developments.”
Despite Aston Martin’s mid-season struggles, Alonso remains positive.
“It doesn’t bother me at all because this year everything that’s happening is a gift,” he said. “Years ago, I dreamed of making a podium, and now we’ve had six podiums in ten races, and I’m third in the world championship.
“We’ve also been thinking about 2024 for several months now. I remember in Barcelona everyone asked me why I didn’t attack Stroll, but I didn’t care.
“Because this year, I already know I’m going to finish third, fourth, or fifth. So I don’t care. It’s more important to start 2024 well. So if the tyres have changed this year, it’s fine because it’s good to try to understand them better for next year.
“If they’ve been disadvantageous for us and advantageous for other teams, we need to understand what they do to have that advantage for us too,” Alonso concluded.
