Aston Martin revealed that the car Fernando Alonso The front suspension was damaged from the first laps in the Singapore GP Formula 1 and the Spanish driver had to deal with that mechanical problem for the rest of the race, which led him to his worst result of the season (15th), for the first time outside the points. Today upon his arrival at the Suzuka circuit, the scene of the Japanese GP, Alonso explained that the loss of potential of the AMR23 in Marina Bay was “significant” and hence I face this weekend’s test with less concern.
“We know how much it affected, we will not share that information but it was significant. I’m a little less worried about benefits in Singapore after seeing the damage we had. The pace was not the real one, without that perhaps we could have followed the leaders’ train and we would have had fewer problems with the Alpine and Pérez. When you are not fast you get into a lot of problems,” commented Fernando.
On paper, Suzuka is not as Aston Martin-friendly a circuit as Singapore was., although according to Alonso, they can expect some surprises: “In theory it should be more difficult than Marina Bay. Or let’s say that we had high expectations there due to the nature of the track. Each circuit has been a surprise for different reasons. At high speed we were not the best on most circuits, so we are worried about Suzuka; but in Zandvoort with a high load we fought for the podium. I hope it will be one of those, a positive surprise with a good and clean weekend for the team,” predicts Alonso.
“In Monza we were ninth, in Singapore there were no points… after two bad races we need a good one. And also for Lance, we will try to have the best weekend possible,” recalled the two-time champion.
The race for development
Technical problems aside, the truth is that the latest grand prizes seem to indicate that Aston Martin has fallen behind in the development race compared to its powerful rivals, Ferrari, Mercedes or McLaren. Alonso assumes the handicap: “We have to accept that everyone here has a very high standard. The team’s motivation to become a leading team, resources and determination are extraordinary, so I am very happy. All the teams have great designers, wind tunnels… all that kind of stuff. Our wind tunnel will be built next year, and we have high hopes. “Most of the best teams have already had this wind tunnel for a few years, so we hope to match their capacity,” he said.
“The pace of development has to be a little faster next year, but this is a very new team, and this is a new position for us.. It’s not that we accept it and are fine with the situation, we just know that this is a season of learning to make our way,” he concluded.
2023-09-21 10:15:50
#Alonso #worried #Aston #Martin #Japan
