Fernando Alonso has stated that Aston Martin must improve the speed of its car by two or three tenths in order to compete within the top 10 this season after qualifying for the F1 Japanese GP, with teammate Lance Stroll last on the grid.
With both drivers struggling to reach the top half of the grid for Sunday’s Japanese GP qualifying session, Alonso has stressed that consistency and upgrades are key for the team to become more competitive.
Alonso: Q3 should have been on the cards
Following Friday’s practice sessions, which saw Alonso finish P7 in FP1, the team was gunning for a Q3 appearance at Suzuka:
“That was the hope yesterday,” said Alonso in the print media zone after the F1 Japanese GP qualifying session.
“After yesterday’s practice, we were feeling good, competitive and I was really thinking that Q3 was possible.
“But this morning, with the wind direction changes, we felt less competitive already from P3 and now in qualifying, P14 [in] Q1, P13 [in] Q2, so it’s more or less what we deserve today. We need to keep improving, it’s not good enough.”
Alonso went on to say that these shortfalls lie in the speed of the car, and that with just a small amount of improvement due to the close nature of the grid, they could find themselves in the top half of it soon:
“At the moment, what gives us hope is that, if we improve the car [by] two or three tenths, that can make, not only two or three positions, [it] can make six or seven positions.
“But when you see a Haas in Q3, when you see a Williams in Q3, when you see a Visa Cash App [Racing Bulls] in Q3, the teammates will be there as well. And the strange thing is that we are in the middle of those, so I think we’re going to find more extra tenths for ourselves.”
AMR25 improvements a “matter of time”
While Aston Martin’s performance so far this weekend leaves a lot to be desired, Alonso has blamed these results on a lack of confidence in the car rather than a lack of effort on his part:
“I’m extracting the maximum in the three qualifying [sessions] and I’m happy with the laps today. I put [on] four sets of tyres, two in Q1, two in Q2, three traffic laps, so this is the time I can get.
“I’m not totally confident with the car. Even yesterday when I pushed in turn eight I lost the car. It’s a very fragile car at the moment to push.”
Nonetheless, he remained adamant that these shortfalls push the team forward, and there there is plenty in the pipeline:
“We need to improve the car. The car is maybe not top ten material at the moment. As I said, the hope is that, with two or three tenths improvement in the package, we can make a lot of things. That’s what motivates us at the moment.”
He continued: “There is stuff coming. Everyone is bringing upgrades, so this is a race off-track as well. There is stuff coming, the team is motivated, the team is working really efficiently now with the new people as well, so it’s a matter of time.”
Fingers crossed for wet weather
Aston Martin’s results in the first two races of the season perhaps inspired some false confidence, Alonso has suggested. Stroll took home an impressive eight points in Australia, and then a further two points in China after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified – but these were special circumstances.
“At the moment we need to accept that it’s going to be difficult to score points unless something strange happens,” said Alonso.
“In Australia, we were lucky with the weather and now in China with the disqualifications. Our position is not that good.”
Forecasts of rain for Sunday’s race in Suzuka might add an element of surprise, then – something that is more than welcome in the Aston Martin garage.
“Let’s see. In a completely dry race it’s going to be tough to score points because, as I said, we are not fast enough,” said Alonso.
“If it rains, there is always a debate: you push and you try to make some time with the risk of DNF, or you keep it calm and you benefit from the other people going off. Let’s chat tomorrow with the team and see what strategy we take.”
Lance Stroll on the same page
Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, shared the same sentiment:
“We need some opportunities, so hopefully there’s some rain.”
Lance Stroll qualified P20 in on Saturday after running wide into the gravel during a hot lap as he had a snap of oversteer in turn 6. He blamed the mishap on adverse weather conditions:
“I had a 20km/h gust of wind, we saw on data, so really unlucky, but in those kinds of corners, that’s the difference between making a corner and having those big snaps. We had that gust of wind and it really unsettled the car.”
Stroll also suggested that the team’s lacking performance was down to heavily interrupted free practices, where grass fires on track forced the sessions to stop:
“We got a lot of red flags at the wrong times in FP2, FP3, didn’t put the soft tyres on in either of those sessions, so [we] didn’t really get a read on the car.”
