Alonso needs more: “Without two or three tenths every two or three races is difficult”

Fernando Alonso took the test more than the race to F1 Emilia-Romagna GP 2024, where his result was the smallest (19th). He left the pit lane to test very experimental settings that would allow him to collect the necessary data so that the engineers Aston Martin analyze them and draw conclusions to adjust the correct settings and balance of the new aerodynamic package and find a more positive direction.

That’s what a man’s career is based on. Fernando with a different approach, with soft tires at the start and early entry into the pits, he needed a ‘Safety Vehicle’ or some chaos to get to the points.

“The only hope, really, is that there are some safety vehicles or red flags or things like that. “We started with soft tires so that in case something happens we have medium or hard, the best for the race, but starting at the back, if nothing happens in the whole race, the whole race becomes a test,” he said about a appointment which was another free practice session for him where he tested soft, hard and medium rubber.

Finally, he focused only on the objective of collecting data with a car that with the new improvements has become a difficult car to drive, which does not give confidence to the driver of Oviedo, explaining how much he suffered on Saturday in such track and full of gravel everywhere. And the worst is the next race is Monacoquote where sure, if something is needed to be fast and stick to the walls, it’s confidence.

“Obviously, the team has all the tools to better analyze the performance of the car and see what the numbers say to find the direction for the next races”announced Fernando after the race to the press present at Imola.

“We experimented a lot in FP1 and FP2 with Lance’s car with different packages and FP3 was another experiment. In the race I had the opportunity to start from the pit lane and I think it is too early to draw conclusions. “I think the question is for the team, with more accurate information,” he argued about the performance of the evolutions, before launching a clearer message that was understood very quickly.

clear message

“The top 3 teams are a bit far away at the moment. Even AlphaTauri is like… Daniel Ricciardo was 4th in the Miami sprint and Yuki (Tsunoda) was very fast here. We have to keep working because everything is very tight. If you don’t improve two or three tenths, the natural improvement you have to have every two or three grands prix, is difficult”.

It is clear that when Ferrari and especially McLaren introduce new parts, they are always moving forward. And this happens in other sets as well. Not so with Aston Martin, who will find less potential than expected immediately in these solutions at Imola. Although the required factory inspection is still missing. The green team must improve a lot in this aspect to not only close the gap, but also maintain its position in a very tight grid.

You’ll also need to keep fine-tuning the speed at which you’re able to find the right set up each time you’re presented with new pieces, finding your way forward faster.