Alonso declares Aston Martin 'not blind' to pace concerns

Fernando Alonso has asserted that Aston Martin is not blind to the issues it is facing during the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

Having enjoyed a success-filled start to last year's campaign that saw the team score six podiums in the opening eight rounds, the Silverstone-based squad's best finish so far this season is a fifth place result.

Aston Martin currently sit fifth in the constructors' championship, having held third at the same point last year.

Alonso detailed that the characteristics of the current generation of cars is the challengers becoming more difficult to drive with the deployment of upgrades.

“We are not blind, in the dark, we are aware of the situation,” Alonso told media including RacingNews365.

“But at the same time, it's the nature of these cars as well. As you add downforce they become a little bit more critical and more difficult to drive.

“This is something that we need to fix.”

Test sessions

The Spaniard explained that Aston Martin has not necessarily lost performance, but rather has been unable to match the gains made by its rivals. 

“I think we dropped in performance relative to the others, I think we increased the performance that our car had,” he said. 

“But the others seem to make a step, a little bit bigger than us and we dropped a little bit in terms of positions.

“In my case, I think I was not perfect at those [last] two races. I was not driving well enough in Miami.”

Alonso endured a difficult weekend last time out at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, crashing in FP3 before finding himself eliminated in Q1 during qualifying.

However, it presented the team with a valuable opportunity to learn more about the car during the race.

“In Imola, I think it was more the search for answers that drives me sometimes on a weekend that I know the goals will not be good enough to satisfy us or myself,” he said.

“Sometimes you switch into a setup thing or test weekend. Because to finish P9, I prefer to fix the problems of the car, give up that weekend, and start from scratch at the next one.

“It’s what happened in Imola, a little bit in FP3, and then quali and the race, which obviously on one side is good, because maybe you accelerate a little bit the fix of the problems.

“On the other side of that weekend, it’s maybe zero points or you are bit less competitive than normal.”