Alonso outlines ‘privilege’ in Aston Martin-Newey links

Fernando Alonso has cautioned Aston Martin against getting carried away by rumours linking Adrian Newey with the team. 

The Red Bull Chief Technical Officer is leaving the team after 19 years of service, with his signature highly-prised by multiple teams, including Ferrari, Alpine, Williams and Aston Martin. 

Aston is known to have made a big-money offer to Newey as it looks for a marquee signing to bolster its technical ranks after capturing Dan Fallows from Red Bull and Enrico Cardile from Ferrari in recent seasons.

Alonso has never worked with Newey during his more than two decades in F1, and insists it is a "privilege" Newey is even linked to the team.

"It is the same as when in Monaco, I woke up one day and at 12 o'clock, there was a press conference saying I was joining Ferrari," Alonso told media including RacingNews365 when asked for his thoughts on the Newey to Aston Martin claims.

"We have so many problems to solve and get performance into the car that we cannot get distracted every weekend of where everyone is going to go. 

"For me, it is a privilege that Aston Martin is linked to Adrian Newey - just to read that combination, it is just a privilege and I feel honoured to be part of Aston Martin.

"If one day it happens, I will be happy, but I cannot dream or cannot keep thinking about things that are not in the present. 

Realism for Aston Martin

Alonso also described the realistic position the team finds itself in going into the second half of the season, with it yet to score a podium having hauled six at the same stage last term.

"Ninth and 10th every race is what we are fighting for," Alonso added.

"The top four teams are between 30 and 45 seconds in front of us every race, so to be in the top eight, we need a DNF from the cars in front so to secure that ninth and 10th is not that easy. 

"In fact, we never did it the last few races, so I think scoring points and being in Q3 will be the target every weekend. 

"There are some ideas and some evidence of things that we did right and things that maybe we didn't understand at first. 

"I'm confident we have the talent in the team. We have the motivation, we have now the new factory. We have new people coming as well. 

"It is just unfortunately Formula 1, you cannot change things from night to day, but we will not stop working until we get into a competitive position."