Fernando Alonso admits that Aston Martin can only expect to be the fifth best Formula 1 team for the remainder of 2024 – and instead he has switched his focus to preparing for next season.
The Silverstone outfit has had a difficult year in comparison to 2023, and is currently in a distant but fairly safe fifth place in the constructors’ championship.
Alonso says that his main motivation over the remaining races will be to help develop ideas for the AMR25.
“Ninth and 10th every race is what we fight for,” he said. “The four teams are between 30 and 45 seconds in front of us every race. So to be in the top eight, we need a DNF from the cars in front.
“To secure that ninth and 10th is not that easy. In fact, we never did in the last few races. So I think scoring points and being in Q3 will be the target every weekend.
“This is in terms of results, and things that you can see. But in the background, we have a lot of test items, a lot of ideas in the car that we want to test in preparation for next year’s car, and things like that.
“So that that will be my biggest motivation, or my biggest hope for the remaining 10 races, to have a good understanding of many of the question marks we have, and finish the season with a clear idea.
“It doesn’t matter if we are in the points or not, but we need to make sure that we start next year on the proper path.”
Alonso believes that the team understands what it did wrong with the AMR24.
“I think so,” he said. “I think there are some ideas and some evidence of things that we did right, things that maybe we didn’t understand at the first go. So I’m confident we have the talent in the team.
“We have the motivation, we have now the new factory. We have new people coming as well. Unfortunately in F1, you cannot change things from night to day. But we will not stop working until we get in a competitive position.”
Asked about rumours that Adrian Newey could come on board Alonso said it was a “privilege” that his name was being mentioned in connection with the team.
“We have so many things and so many problems to solve and to get performance in the car that we cannot get distracted every weekend of where everyone is going to go,” he said.
“For me it’s already a privilege that Aston Martin and Adrian Newey are linked, that combination, just to read it, it’s just a privilege, and I feel honoured to be part of Aston Martin.
“If one day it happens, I will be happy. But I cannot dream or I cannot keep thinking of things that are not in the present.”
