Fernando Alonso doesn’t expect this weekend’s Austrian GP to be any better for Aston Martin than the last race in Spain, where the former World Champion finished outside the points in 12th.
Alonso noted in Barcelona that he anticipated three “painful” weekends from the triple-header, and he hasn’t changed his tune. However, he hinted that a “perfect” weekend for the team might at least improve the situation.
“I don’t think it’s going to be better,” he said. “I think it’s very similar, long corners, very short lap. I think with half a second, you will be from pole position to last. And yeah, you have to do everything perfect.
“We will try to do everything perfect, as we did, probably on Saturday in Barcelona – to be P11 or P10 was not our position.
“But we did a very good lap and very good traffic management. Here traffic will be important in the last two corners in qualifying. So we try to do our best.
“But I think it’s going to be difficult, and it’s going to be difficult here and Silverstone. So I know we talk on Thursdays, we talk on Fridays, we talk on Friday after qualifying. We will talk after the sprint. We will talk after Sunday race. We did the same in Barcelona.
“So there are 12 press conferences within three Grand Prix that we say exactly the same!
“So we understand. And we are not happy, let’s put it this way, we are not happy to have P12. But when we are P12 it’s not that I’m disappointed not to be in Q3. More or less, I expect that.”
Alonso keeps realistic expectations
Alonso said it was the nature of the track that saw a dip in form between Canada and Spain.
“Track layout is very different between Barcelona and Montreal,” he said. “Very short corners, just stop and go in Montreal, braking and acceleration. In Barcelona, it’s more long corners. And yeah, more or less, we know where we are at the moment.
“We understand the car deficits, and Barcelona, we knew that it was going to be a tough weekend, as it will be here in Austria and Silverstone. The three of this triple-header, I think, is in a way, very similar track characteristics, so we expect a little bit tough times.
“But yeah, being a sprint weekend, this may change, if you start on the right foot, and you feel confident in the car, and some other teams, they start a little bit lost, there is no time to recover, because you go into qualifying and semi parc ferme. So, hopefully, we get it right immediately tomorrow.”
In Spain Alonso hinted at an improvement expected from an update package due for Hungary, but he admitted he can’t guarantee that it will be better.
“I’m not a technician, so this messaging in Barcelona that I expect the next upgrade works – of course, imagine that I say that the next upgrade doesn’t work! It’s just a logic thing.”
