Fernando Alonso points to Singapore: he wants to be “one of the candidates”

In Aston Martin they are calm. the same Fernando Alonso. performance on Monzawithin Italian GPIt must be something that stands out because of the special characteristics of a track with so many straights, the so-called ‘Temple of Speed’. After the step forward made by the green team in Zandvoort With the introduction of a new floor and diffuser, both Fernando and the team hope to once again lead the fight for the podium at the next round at the Singapore street circuit, with completely opposite characteristics to Monza. In this sense, it is necessary to see if Fernando Alonso thave a chance to fight for the win or at least put the pressure on Max Verstappen in Singapore. On paper, then Monacois the best option for Oviedo in the rest of the championship.

“Singapore will be better than Monza, that’s for sure. But to win a race we already know how difficult it is. With Red Bull (with Max Verstappen) performing at an incredible level every Sunday. Let’s see if we are one of the candidates for Singapore.”he declared.

“I’m not sure, I think every week everything seems to change. In the last two street circuits… in Monaco Alpine was very strong with (Esteban) O third and in Baku Ferrari dominated with (Charles) Leclerc on pole. It will be seen let’s go to Singapore…”In this regard, Alonso commented that on Thursday, at the press conference before the Italian GP, ​​he assured that not only in Singapore he can try to surprise, but also in other tracks such as Austin or Mexico, where He expects his car to be competitive.

In addition, Tom McCullough, Aston Martin’s head of performance, assured MD’s question that “new parts” will arrive in Singapore and can be expected for the next race.

“We have a good lead in terms of points, but it is tightening. Ferrari have overtaken us in the Constructors’ World Championship but we will be back in Singapore.” the Spaniard pointed out to the press present in Monza after Sunday’s appointment, knowing that what was seen in Monza was something specific, isolated, due to the importance of aerodynamic efficiency on the long straights of the legendary Lombard racetrack.

“This is the Ferrari circuit, for many years they put the new engine or did things like this for this race, but the World Cup is 22 races,” he recalled at the end to highlight the good performance by the Italians on their home track. At Monza, Ferrari was able to maximize its strengths: straight line top speed and engine power. But in Singapore, the thing is completely opposite. As Sainz said at Zandvoort, it seems that when Ferrari is going well, Aston Martin is not going well, and vice versa. In Singapore this can happen again and things can vary in a very even chase area from track to track, depending on track characteristics.

Aston Martin News

The only question that remains about Aston Martin is how realistic Alonso’s podium finish at Zandvoort is. Was it really due to the car moving to the front with its new features or due to Fernando’s ability to take oil from the very dangerous track conditions in the race, where he finished in a very good second place. Did the same happen with the dry one? The pace of the race car on Sunday was excellent in all kinds of conditions, including when the track was dry. But on Saturday, Fernando, who was 5th in qualifying, could have finished 7th or 8th if Pérez, Leclerc or Hamilton had not failed. What is clear, according to Alonso, is that the car is easier to drive and the driving sensations are better with the new features introduced. But also that the rest of the rivals have improved a lot and the step in front of Aston Martin does not put it in the 2nd starting place, but in the whole battle in the place of the chase, it seems, with similar weapons to the others and there is better. options on a slow curve track type, but less on other layout types. It could be a roller coaster until the end of the year. Sometimes on the podium, others are close, and others are further away.

Aerodynamic efficiency, key for 2024

Monza served to clarify Aston Martin which, despite the improvements introduced in Zandvoort, his car continued to have a major weakness in its low aerodynamic efficiency on the straight. The team arrived wondering if they could improve their performance on the long straight, but the car was not competitive. Those in green were left with a lot of data to analyze to study how to avoid making the same mistake with the concept car for next year, in 2024. alonso He pointed out to MD that he hopes the team will have “another good winter” to take another step in the quest to fight for all against the Red bull.

“The car or the efficiency of the car is not as good as it should be on these tracks. It seems to be our weakness. We know it and now we have to improve and find ideas for it”argument.

“There are many lessons we should take from this race. We weren’t competitive so that’s the main thing to understand to know what we should have done differently and when we come back here next year. In the race there was not much to do, we were slow from start to finish and it was not possible to fight more than me. We got points and I hope we got some lessons.” Fernando declared.

“It’s disappointing because it’s a very demanding race mentally and physically, with very little grip, it’s very difficult to drive. For me it was one of the hardest races of the year. This is an unknown race, no one will remember it, but I will do it in my mind because it is very difficult. I hope we learned things in the car with the data we had from the race.”done about it.