Alonso: “We are in a transition towards a very strong big team”

Fernando Alonso He began his journey inward Aston Martin in spectacular fashion, with 6 podiums in his first 8 races with the British team and the second best car on the grid at the start of the season. However, from the eighth race of the year until reaching the Mexican F1 GP, the Asturian has only added one more podium in the last 9 races, in Zandvoort (2nd) and in mixed conditions. Big teams like it Mercedes, Ferrari either McLaren They were able to evolve their respective cars more and better and overtake Aston Martin. On the other side of this, Fernandowith 4 races left to finish the year, refers to the 2023 course of Aston Martin as “amazing.”

“Very good. The year for us has been very good.”commented in an interview with ‘Fox Sports’ on eThe Mexican F1 GPwhere he made an important reflection to understand the extreme difficulties that Aston Martin experienced in developing its car compared to large teams with large factories operating for years at the highest possible level of productivity.

“It’s true that you’re always left with a taste in your mouth by the last races and it might seem like it’s been a tough year for Aston Martin. But coming from where we’ve come from… I think we have 200 more points than last year (in 2022 Aston Martin achieved 55, and now, with 4 races left, they have 236), we have made podiums, and We should also not forget that this group two and a half years ago had 250 people working. And now we are over 800. So we are in a transition towards a very strong big team and this year’s results logically help this transition.”announced Fernando Alonso.

Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari or McLaren, the Aston Martin team was working until a few months ago in a small factory, created in the 90s, without the necessary infrastructure to create the parts that the track demands to remain second best . single-seater. In fact, they had to outsource the creation of most of the pieces and this increased the cost and time of making them.

This year, before the British GP, employees began their move to the new factory. At first glance, from the outside, the difference between one headquarters and another is huge, and this is a clear example of the magnitude of the green project. But time is still needed to optimize all the processes and for the new factory to work at its maximum, in addition to the creation of the simulator and the wind tunnel that still need to be completed. All this is referred to by Alonso in his words.

Aston Martin has gone from being a small team to a team that constantly wants to fight the big guys. That takes time. They made a big step in the winter but all year they failed to keep up with the best teams in the evolution race. In 2024 they will try again.