Fernando, so are you going to Red Bull? “It’s just the usual paddock rumors spread by people trying to grab a bit of attention. But I don’t like playing this game.” Alonso is angry, nervous, at least apparently. With ‘Nando’ (and not only with him) you are never sure that the official version that appears before the spotlight reflects one hundred percent real thought. However, yes, Alonso seems unnerved by the rumors that emerged on Sunday evening in Mexico, rumors according to which he is in contact with Red Bull.
In reality, there have been many confirmations regarding the infeasibility of the operation (assuming it was even mentioned) and the answers from Alonso himself put a tombstone on all the chatter. Indeed, Fernando seems to want to go further, if only to dispel the doubts that may have arisen about his loyalty to Aston Martin: “I will make sure there are consequences”, he thundered, probably referring to whoever may have lit the fuse of the speculations.
Do rumors about your future amuse you?
“No, I’m not having fun. Here I am in front of journalists I appreciate, professionals who have been in Formula 1 for many years and who have earned respect on the field, as it should be. But all the rumors come from people who are not here in this room today, maybe they come to the track to have fun, but I think it’s not fun when they play with other things.”
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team
But it cannot be denied that the car has not been doing badly lately. What happens in the team?
“Yes, obviously we are not as competitive as we would like. Our best level is not what we are showing now, we are working and analyzing some of the updates we have brought lately. We are not happy, Mike (Krack) is not happy, nobody is happy with the current form. But at the same time this team two years ago was made up of 250 people, now we are in a transition phase which will lead us to have 800 people in a new headquarters. So far this season we have achieved seven podium places, we currently have 200 points more than last year. I repeat, we can’t be happy, but we can’t be too negative either, we’re still talking about a season that was super for us.”
In Austin your race performance was good, but there are always ups and downs. How come?
“Current single-seaters are very complex, there is a combination of many factors and one of these is that the car must be optimized for each circuit. Performance in qualifying is very, very important, the grid is compact and if you start with the leading group you can match the pace of the best, vice versa you are in traffic, which means having problems with the aerodynamic load, with tire management, with temperatures and all that kind of stuff.”
“The details make a big difference, but we are not very worried, nor in a panic, we know that the pace is there, as we saw in Austin. Lately we haven’t put everything together on the weekends, but I hope in Brazil to get back to the positions we’ve been in for more than half the season.”
Seen from the outside, it seems that the car has lost a bit of the balance it had at the start of the season. It’s correct?
“Yes, maybe we had a few more problems now than at the beginning of the year. But as I said, in the first part of the season the grid wasn’t that compact, and even if the car wasn’t perfectly comfortable and you lost a tenth or two, you were still in fifth position, or in that area of the grid anyway. Today with a tenth you risk slipping back three or four positions, now we are all much more at the limit. This weekend we will still have the sprint format, I hope it can start as a normal weekend, without any unexpected events.”
![Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23](https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0L1aLwW2/s1000/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-a-1.jpg)
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
After the problems that led to the disqualification of Leclerc and Hamilton in the sprint weekend in Austin, will everyone be more conservative this weekend?
“Yes, probably. It’s a good point, I think this year the sprint format has been quite difficult for everyone if we talk about optimizing the car. There are always margins that must be guaranteed, I believe that in Baku Alpine started from the pitlane because they understood that perhaps they would not fit within the limits allowed, in Spa we saw both Red Bulls almost take off at Eau Rouge because they thought it could be a problem. And then in Austin we had some cars that were checked but also a lot of other cars that weren’t checked, so yes, I think everyone will be more conservative.”
What would be a good result for you at the end of this weekend?
“Being in the top five.”
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