Fernando Alonso admitted the 2024 season has been more taxing for him as his car’s unpredictable handling has left him lacking confidence.
The two-times world champion finished on the podium eight times last year but a single fifth place remains his best finish in a grand prix so far this season.“The car is not easy to drive and it’s a little bit unpredictable at times,” Alonso admitted. “So this obviously removes confidence to the driver, when you are not able to push and to trust that the car will do the same in every corner, in every lap.
“This inconsistency is something that is not great when you are behind the wheel and I’m struggling more this year than previously.”
Aston Martin haven’t been able to challenge the top four teams for much of the season and have increasingly found themselves battling the likes of RB and Haas. Alonso said they’ve had to take greater risks in their approach which at times has hurt them more.
“Obviously when margins are so tight and you are in a close battle for one or two points, sometimes you take more risky decisions. Sometimes you gamble on a strategy. Sometimes you risk more than what you should in the start or on a set-up choice that we went for.
“Instead of changing something minimal before qualifying, we change the whole car before qualifying because we know that with the current car in FP3, we will not be able to score more than one or two points, so you risk it more.
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“There are always consequences with things that you do when you are used to fight for higher positions and you find yourself just aiming for one or two points, sometimes you risk it all to have a top five or being out of the points is not a big loss. These kind of things we learn a lot during this season and probably has been our – or, my – personal biggest difficulty.”
Alonso said it will be important for the team to correct the problems with its car in the second half of the season in order to ensure it makes the correct choices with its car design for next year.
“I think our aim, and my personal wish, is to find the direction and to find a comfortable path into the development that we can go into winter period with some more trust of what we do and then having a more normal 2025 campaign,” he said.
“So 2024, as I said, the top four teams are a little bit out of reach, so we just need to concentrate on our own development, our own trust in the car, and get better for next year.”
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2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Verstappen names Hungarian GP the most stressful moment of his title-winning year
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- Verstappen dismisses critics of “vocal” radio messages and late-night simracing
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Nick T.
19th July 2024, 15:52
I think Dan Fallows has more than proven himself a dud with nothing of value to contribute beyond the role of doing grunt work executing the design of someone with a vision, which is what 95% of the engineers do in F1.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
19th July 2024, 17:20
With such drastic changes due in 2026 you have to wonder how much effort the teams are going to put into their 2025 cars, especially those in the midfield.
A much improved car for Aston may get them 4th in the WCC, is that worth the effort with 2026 coming?
Nick T.
19th July 2024, 19:24
I’m sure they’ll prioritize 2026 either way. Just sounds like he’s hoping maybe they go with a safer but more predictable evolution for next year that will produce a well balanced car that will just ensure they can consistently compete for points next season even it means they won’t be likely to compete for wins and podiums.
Wifh the new hires, I’m betting Fallows might get the boot, unless Newey wants him there because he’s been a reliable partner in executing his design visions. I think Krack will likely get fired too.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
20th July 2024, 13:54
Alonso really does look to have been pretty poor over the past 6 weekends.
Hulkenberg and Stroll have both scored more than him. I think it is clear that the Haas is worse than this team, but if Stroll is doing a better job, Alonso must be pretty bad – or stroll has become decent. The other interesting statistic over these 6 races is that Hulkenberg and Stroll have scored as many or more points than Perez….