Confidence in the future
The 2023 season was a great one for Fernando Alonsowho in his first year at the wheel of Aston Martin managed to conquering eight podiums and to close the season with a surprise fourth place in the championship, while his boxing partner Lance Stroll only finished tenth. This year, however, the music is different, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren appearing absolutely unapproachable for the British team and with Mercedes having confirmed its role as fourth wheel in Canada.
The team owned by Lawrence Stroll is therefore left with only crumbs in terms of points placings. Yet Alonso, interviewed by the Spanish site AS in the run-up to the Spanish GP, confirmed that see progress in the team’s work: “We understood many things about the car that we need to put into practice. In F1 there are no overnight solutions. It can take three weeks to design a part, produce it, test it and enter it into competition. As a rider or fan it’s hard to understand, why you want things for tomorrow”.
Iberian pride
At the moment the Alonso’s best result this year was fifth place in Saudi Arabia and the podiums seem very far away. However, the two-time world champion, with his usual pride, claimed the extraordinary nature of what he did last season, ‘challenging’ his colleagues to do the same with similar means at their disposal.
“The exceptional thing is the eight podiums last year – highlighted the former Renault, Ferrari and McLaren driver – eight podiums, finishing fifth in the Constructors’ standings. It’s not normal. This year we’ll see how many drivers manage to achieve eight podiums with the second, third or fourth best car. It’s not easy to get eight podiums, even less so with the fifth car in the championship. But we will try, I don’t know if there will be eight, but the championship is long“, he concluded.
