Aston Martin’s 2024 Formula 1 season has been lacklustre so far, as they sit fifth in the championship table with just 73 points to their name. Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren, who had started behind Aston Martin in Bahrain last year, managed to finish the 2023 season on a positive note. In 2024, those teams have notably extended their advantage over Aston Martin while they have been dealing with the consequences of suboptimal car development.
After a couple of unsuccessful upgrades, the team believes that they can build on the Budapest package and gain more performance in the second half of the season. At the pre-race press meet ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso spoke at length about their recent upgrades and whether they could minimise the deficit in performance and bring themselves closer to the action at the front of the grid.
On the topic of the evolution of Mercedes this year and the likelihood of Aston Martin mirroring that trajectory, Alonso confidently replied that both Mercedes and McLaren have demonstrated that taking a big leap forward in terms of performance is achievable. The Spaniard added that it was up to them to build on the upgrades and extract the most out of the facilities they have.
“Both Mercedes this year and McLaren last year. Both of them proved that it is possible to recover a significant gap to the leaders. Mercedes was fighting with Haas for four races and now they won two Grand Prix.”
“McLaren was out of Q1 for a few races at the beginning of last year and they were fighting for victory so it is possible. It’s up to us, it’s up to the team to understand the upgrades, where are the key parts of the car to find performance, how to find that performance. We have the facilities. We will have the wind tunnel at the end of the year probably ready.”
The media was also interested in what the 43-year-old was looking forward to in the second half of the season. Alonso stated that he hoped to have a car capable of making consistent Q3 appearances and top 10 finishes. As far as aspirations go, he wants Aston Martin at the top of the midfield and to close the massive gap to the top four teams that they currently have. While he confessed that this would be difficult to accomplish in 2024 with few upgrades in the pipeline, he also maintained that the direction they take after the summer break would be instrumental in building their momentum for 2025.
“Well, I mean the motivation is just hoping for a good second part of the year, which means to have a consistent car in the Q3 and the top 10. I think we’ve been a little bit up and down unfortunately. Barcelona, we were not the fifth fastest team. Austria, we were quite bad as well; we were the seventh or the eighth fastest team. I don’t want to hopefully see that again.”
“I want to be in the top part of the midfield, just behind the top four teams. And then slowly maybe close that gap to the top four teams. Maybe this year is going to be difficult because there are not many upgrades for anybody coming.”
“But we need to find the direction; we need to find the path for next year as well. And this second part of the year is going to be important to keep the momentum for 2025. So this is, I think, for me and for the whole team, the biggest motivation from now on.”
With seven different race winners so far, this season has emerged as one of the most competitive ones in recent times. While Alonso was right in the middle of the action for the better part of 2023, he is often scraping for points in 2024. In a very candid response, he admitted that Aston Martin slipping away towards the back of the grid was an unfortunate affair. They were unable to keep up as other teams moved forward and let opportunities slip through their fingers.
“I think last year we were the best of the rest. But Red Bull was unbeatable. They never had a bad pit stop. They never had a crash. They never had a bad qualifying. They never had any problem. And then we just were third or second all the time. All the pictures of my podiums last year, I have Checo and Max with me.”
“Things changed a little bit. And we were not there to take the opportunity. We said many times last year we need to keep up. We need to be always hunting them. And when they have any crack, we are there to take the opportunity. And when they start to have any kind of problem, we were not anymore there.”
Nonetheless, the two-time world champion refused to label Aston Martin’s rough patch as frustrating amidst multiple teams vying for wins every race weekend. In his opinion, it’s the nature of the sport. Despite not being content with their current standing, Alonso expressed that he wants to enjoy the journey as they transform themselves into a big team capable of challenging for the title in 2026.
“No, I will not call it frustration. I think it’s the nature of the sport. But at the end of the day, we are not happy with our position. That’s for sure. But in December, only one guy will be happy. And probably, the second guy will be more frustrated than me, you know, in Abu Dhabi. And the third guy and the fourth and things like that.”
“I’m enjoying the journey. Let’s call it that. You know, we want to be champions. We want to be competitive next year. And also take the big opportunity in 2026. And it’s not time to be frustrated. It’s time to enjoy the process of becoming a big team.”
