The 2024 season has been a rollercoaster ride for Aston Martin, with the team starting out in the top five and then falling into the midfield. Part of the backsliding is the new features that haven’t worked as expected, especially the package that debuted at Imola, which made the car much more nervous and difficult for the drivers to drive.
For this reason, at Silverstone Aston Martin had chosen to take a step back, abandoning the Imola bottom to return to the one that had made its debut at Suzuka. Development restarted from there and the following race new solutions arrived that the Silverstone team hoped could help take another step forward.
Expectations were high for the Dutch Grand Prix, with a strong qualifying that resulted in seventh and eighth place finishes. However, Aston only managed to take home one point in the race, partly because the AMR24 is sometimes even more competitive on a single lap than over a long distance, and partly because it paid the price for losing some positions right at the start.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
Alonso did not hide that Monza could prove more complicated for the British team, but it will be a GP all to discover: “Zandvoort, which was a circuit on which we had great hopes, we only got one point. In Monza we are a bit more worried, but, you know, races always happen in an unexpected way. So, yes, it can happen that it is a good weekend. But yes, on paper it is a difficult race”, said the Spaniard.
In an attempt to climb the standings and, above all, find answers to the problems encountered during the year and direct development especially with a view to 2025, Aston Martin will use the free practice sessions as a sort of test session. Yesterday, in fact, the technicians had already mounted the rakes for aerodynamic measurements on Alonso’s car, not only to collect data on the low-downforce wings designed for Monza, but above all to understand something more about the car’s behavior.
“On paper maybe Monza is not the best circuit for us, but we still have to do our best. We will try different things also in FP1, not specifically for Monza, but also long-term projects for the team and understanding the car. So the weekend is still very useful. Then, obviously, in qualifying and the race we will do our best,” Alonso said.
Aston Martin AMR24, front wing detail
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
Originally, the Spaniard was not supposed to take to the track for the first free practice session since, like last year, Felipe Drugovich was supposed to take to the track in FP1. The F1 regulations require that a rookie takes part in at least 2 free practice sessions during the season and, initially, Monza was chosen as one of the two tracks on which the Brazilian would have driven. However, given that the Brianza track has been completely renovated, both in terms of the asphalt and the kerbs, it was ultimately decided to postpone the free practice session dedicated to Drugovich, who will now drive in place of Alonso in FP1 in Mexico.
“Originally, I think I was going to give my car to Felipe here in Monza for FP1. Then we realised that the asphalt was a bit more different than we thought. The kerbs are different than we thought. So, yes, the team changed the plan, and I think that will now happen in Mexico,” explained the Asturian.
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