Alonso smiled: “The car has grown and we have to confirm it in the race”

Fernando Alonso will start 5th in the F1 2023 Dutch GP. He came from seeing how McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari improved their cars and in the final races he no longer aspired to get close to the podium. In the classifications of the last three races he was 8th, 9th and 8th. And this time, he’s back in the fray in the chasing pack. Not ahead, but in a very tight match. If Hamilton does not fail, or also the ‘Czech’ or Leclerc, maybe his position will be 8th again, but this time with a car that feels better, which should allow him to fight with more ambition between now and the end of the course. For now, he will start this Sunday from 5th place, eyeing the podium. He knows it will be difficult, but he is happy to be there with a car that has undoubtedly taken a step forward thanks to the improvements shown on this track, at Zandvoort.

“Closer to the top-3? We’ll see tomorrow. If it’s dry all day, we’re still a bit far. The same ‘Checo’ would have been later, Hamilton the same too, I don’t know. But hey, the parts we put on the car yesterday worked well, it feels better to drive, grips better in the corners, and then all the data matched what we expected in the wind tunnel. So I think we have taken a step forward in the right direction. The others are also very strong and you also have to accept that, and we will continue to work”, commented Oviedo in statements to the Spanish newspaper present in Zandvoort, along with MD.

“The car feels better and also the data confirms that the car is performing as we expected from the wind tunnel data, so this is a step forward. And I think the 5th position today is also thanks to our super performance in the car. We must thank everyone at the factory, everyone worked very hard in July, who had many races in July and were working on these pieces. In the summer, the factory had to be closed, so the measures had to be taken in July and it was a very intense month for everyone,” added the man from Oviedo, who wanted to thank the international press for the effort made by Aston Martin. in the month of July. to make the pieces he was able to premiere this weekend.

“It’s a step in the right direction. Obviously you want more, but the competition is very strong, with the McLarens, Williams is very strong this weekend, so it shows how tight it is. It shows that we understood the things we were wrong about a few races ago and we’re back on track and it’s very interesting, not only for this year, but also for next year.” done about it.

THE CLASSIFICATION

“We are used to having tests at this time that are between wet and dry. They are always the most difficult, because you have to intuit the track conditions a little bit because you are in the garage for a long time, with many red flags. and you have to use a lot of intuition And at the end in Q3 when we put the dry tires on, which we have done several times already, the circuit is two meters wide, only the dry lane is formed .So you go in the dry, at dry speed, but on a circuit that’s only two meters wide, so it’s a bit tricky.”

MORE EXCITED ABOUT HER PODIUM OPTIONS

“The podium? We’ll see. Logically, I’m more excited about him than in the last few races when we started 8th or 9th. So we’re two positions behind them. I hope we can get a good start. Passing Albon will be also interesting because He has a very high straight line speed so later on the track it will be more difficult and then we will see the pace of the race. Last weekends we did not have a good performance (in the race) but we No also we are wearing well, maybe because of the extra slip we have. But tomorrow I am curious. I think the car has grown and tomorrow we will have to confirm it in the race.”

THIS IS THE MAXIMUM I CAN DO

“I think it was the maximum (fifth place), and then it was a very difficult time trial. With 30 seconds to go we didn’t make any time in Q3 because of the red flags and everything, so we all tried to do . a 99.9% lap because you have I had to see the checkered flag to put a time on the table, and I’m happy with that. Maybe a tenth or two more to get, but maybe the same for everybody, so I’m happy.”

EASY TO FAIL

“It’s easy to fail. Sometimes you slow down a bit and you have incredible fears, because the tires lose 5 or 6 degrees of temperature. Even if we see an accident, it’s not always because you’re pushing the limit, but if sometimes it’s More than you get a little out of the tire temperature window. So it’s a very tough time trial, but we’re getting used to it. I think 8 weekends in a row that it rained at some point or Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and it puts a lot of stress and wear on the teams and riders because there is a lot of breakdown, you have to make a lot of decisions in a few seconds and so far they have all turned to us but at any moment they can also be tail for us.”

CURVE 1 AND THE EXIT

“It’s an iconic corner. And tomorrow hopefully we’ll see the top three or four cars test the gravel (laughs). It could be even more iconic (he jokes).”