Aston Martin says the condensed nature of the F1 calendar is making it difficult for the team to make gains at present.
The Silverstone-based squad had a shocker of a weekend. Alonso and Stroll got knocked out in Q2, and they only finished P12 and P14 in the Grand Prix itself.
After last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at home, Alonso did not mince his words about their performance, saying they deserved nothing as the AMR24 was very tough to drive.
“I am a little bit disappointed because we didn’t score any points.
“We deserved not to score any points because we didn’t have the pace the whole weekend.
“In the race, it was extremely difficult. When you slide so much in the corners, also you kill the tyres. So you have two problems.
“You don’t have the pace, plus you have a lot of degradation. So all in all, it has been a very long race for us. We need to get better for Austria.”
He continued by saying the team should keep their heads down, work hard and stop giving confident soundbites to the media about upgrades.
The Spaniard was on the podium in six of the first eight races last year. The regression has been big since then, despite two more podiums in Zandvoort and São Paulo during the second half of the last campaign.
They brought a big update to Imola that seems to have made things even worse. The car has severe balance limitations, meaning the drivers lack confidence to push.
“We cannot get too frustrated. It’s time to work harder, to talk less, to deliver more. It’s what we want to do.
“So now it’s also a matter of whatever we bring to the track, it does deliver what we expect and we start getting better and better.
“So as I said, we need to work hard, get better every race, but without too much talking or promising.“
Alonso plainly said the AMR24’s was lacking downforce and load. He declared that Austria and Silverstone could be even more difficult races.
“It is frustrating but there’s nothing you can do now so you start thinking in Austria immediately when you see the chequered flag and what you can do differently.
“But I think it’s gonna be painful as well because it has some characteristics of Barcelona, with the long corners and high speed sections.
“It’s going to be another tough weekend, also in Silverstone, arguably.”We cannot get too frustrated.”
The team is aware of the flaws in the 2024 package at present.
An upgrade may be unveiled in time for the Hungarian Grand Prix, among other impending changes; nonetheless, Aston Martin claims that the current run of races has further complicated its predicament.
The F1 season is heating up, with a trip to Austria for the second leg of a triple-header, followed by consecutive races in Hungary and Belgium. Finding the time to reflect on lessons learned from each race and implement changes has not been easy, as team boss Mike Krack points out.
“That is one of the issues that you have. You have now five races in six weeks.
“We have had quite a lot of understanding after Monaco, Imola, and Canada as well, where we scored 14 points by the way with the same car, but it’s about fixing them. You have no time. That’s the main problem at the moment.
“So we have to hang on like this, get the best out of the car each weekend and bring these parts as quick as possible.”
Despite Aston Martin’s recently history of disappointing updates, there seems to be some hope that the next one, due out before summer break, would be better.
Krack also expressed some optimism, echoing Alonso’s belief that the next updates will be the key as Aston Martin struggle to make the top 10 consistently in qualifying and races at present.
“I share his optimism, but also I have to share the optimism.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s encouraging. We have clearly a better understanding than we had before. That is also what makes us confident looking forward.
“We will continue to bring parts as soon as they become ready, starting in the next races. So it is not we should focus only on Budapest, but we should really try to improve as quick as possible.”
Along those lines, Krack claimed he was unconcerned that team owner Lawrence Stroll was becoming impatient because the team had failed to repeat its early performance of 2023.
The Canadian businessman has pumped a lot of money into improving the team on and off track, but it has failed to deliver the results he wants so far.
“Yeah, but he’s also very knowledgeable about how Formula 1 works, how Formula 1 operates.
“So even if he’s not patient, he knows that making parts takes time. So he’s up to date with everything and it’s for us now to deliver them.”
