Fernando Alonso believes the drop in competitiveness of the Aston Martin despite upgrades at recent grands prix should be a “huge wake-up call” for the team.
While Aston Martin brought an upgrade package to Imola, many rivals did likewise, meaning the Silverstone-based outfit failed to make progress on the timesheet.
The AMR24 has also proven more challenging to set up and drive. Both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll have aired similar complaints, indicating that the car is difficult to balance through corners, transitioning from oversteer on entry to understeer mid-corner.
Alonso’s unusual accident during FP3 in Imola highlighted the car’s unpredictability, which compromised his entire weekend.
In Monaco, where confidence in the car is paramount, Aston Martin didn’t fare better, with neither driver able to make significant gains from outside the top 10 in qualifying.
“These two weekends are very key for us to understand our weaknesses, to understand and improve the car,” Alonso said after finishing 11th. “You always learn more in difficult times than in victories. So I think we will learn a lot for 2025 and 2026 in the second part of this year. These two races were a huge wake-up call, and it’s good for us.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Alonso expects the situation not to improve significantly soon and revealed that the team needs “a few races” before it can introduce its next major upgrade package.
“After Imola and Monaco, there are some doubts that we are not fast enough, and we need to change that trend,” said the two-time champion. “We need a few more races before we have a big step on the car, but until then, we need to give everything, we need to improve our performance on track to score points. There will be better days, there will be worse days, and we need to stick together.”
When asked about the car’s handling difficulties, Stroll responded: “Keeping the car balanced is definitely a bigger challenge. Sometimes it’s oversteer into the corner, sometimes understeer in the middle of the corner, sometimes when you run over curbs – those are things we continue to work on. It’s certainly a trickier balance compared to last year’s car.”
Translation by Xiao Feixia
Alonso: Recent F1 races a ‘huge wake-up call’ for Aston Martin. Author：Sports UEFA.Please indicate the source when reproduced：https://www.sportsuefa.com/speedy-f1/11626.html
