Fernando Alonso says it “doesn’t matter” if Aston Martin finishes in less lucrative points positions in future races, as he would prefer Aston Martin to prioritise improving the car ahead of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Aston Martin has not finished higher than fifth so far in the 2024 season – which it has achieved just once, in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – and has failed to repeat its podium form from 2023.
While rivals such as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes had made great progress since the start of that season, Aston Martin suffered the backlash of its major upgrade package – which included a floor, front wing and diffuser – introduced at Imola, which forced it to reset its development path.
Alonso suggested that Aston Martin’s poor results in Barcelona and Austria – the only races, other than Monaco, where the team has failed to score points in 2024 – were due to “some errors in the configuration of the car” in terms of set-up.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
When asked what he expects from the second part of the 2024 season, which kicks off in Zandvoort this weekend, Alonso replied: “Ninth and tenth place, every race, is our target.”
“The top four teams are 30 to 45 seconds ahead of us every race. To be in the top eight, we need a retirement from the cars ahead of us.”
“So, yes, securing ninth and tenth place is not that easy. In fact, in the last races we never managed to do that (Alonso or his teammate Lance Stroll finished eleventh in Hungary and Spa).
“Yes, I think scoring points and being in Q3 will be the target every weekend. But that’s in terms of results and things you see. In the background, we have a lot of testing, a lot of ideas on the car that we want to test in preparation for next year’s car and things like that.”
“So that’s going to be my biggest motivation or my biggest hope for the remaining ten races: to have a good understanding of a lot of the question marks that we have and to finish the season with a clear idea.”
“It doesn’t matter whether we’re in the points or not, but we have to make sure we start next year on the right track,” he concluded.
Additional information by Ben Hunt
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