Anonymous start
First colorless race of the year for Fernando Alonso, 9th at the finish line at the end of a performance without ups and downs. It is no coincidence that the same Spaniard ofAston Martin he admitted that he had finished where he expected to finish the GP, without showing great satisfaction despite finishing in the points ahead of his teammate.
The change of philosophy
Now that F1 moves to Saudi Arabia for the second round of the season, the two-time world champion has returned to the question relating to the pace and competitiveness of the AMR24: “When I went to the factory in January, the expectations were realistic – He admitted – we knew the pace we had taken for the winter. We have completely changed the philosophy of approaching the season. We have a good starting point, but we expect continued progress throughout the championship. Last year we put everything on the table from the start, but then we were unable to react to the strong pace of the top teams.”
The example to follow
Consequently, in order to improve performances, Alonso hopes to be able to implement progress like that made by one of his former teams in 2023: “This year we have more hope for the second part of the season – he added – we have to confirm it in the next races, but I'm confident and happy. I'm where I expected to be, fourth or fifth car, like we finished last year. We started like in Abu Dhabi and now it's up to us to take a step like McLaren in 2023 and be a strong team in the second half“.
Forecast for Jeddah
In conclusion, the 42-year-old still highlighted some improvements compared to 2023 while awaiting the second round of the championship: “The top speed and cornering speed have improved – he added – we made sacrifices in the slow corners and we need to analyze them. The testing was very limited and it was very windy, so with such major changes to our car we will have to stabilize things. Jeddah will be interesting. This week, at the Saudi Arabian GP, we might see a more competitive version: There are very different circuits and we have only seen this car in tests and in the Bahrain race. In Saudi Arabia, last year it was more for Aston and Mercedes. We'll see if we and Mercedes are strongerbut I expect the Red Bull continues to dominate“.
#Alonso #McLaren #improve
