Fernando Alonso thinks Aston Martin ought to tweak its objectives for the remaining ten races of the 2024 season.
This 12 months, after a extremely promising 2023, the Silverstone primarily based group – and its 43-year-old high Spanish driver – has taken a serious step backwards.
“It’s been up and down,” Alonso mentioned at Zandvoort, additionally admitting a few of the blame. “I’m not tremendous proud of my season. However I’m loads happier than folks suppose.
“I don’t know what folks count on typically when the automotive is preventing with the midfield groups and I nonetheless rating good factors. Lance (Stroll) is doing an unimaginable job this 12 months, however once I learn some information, that it’s one in every of my worst seasons, I’ve twice as many factors as him,” Alonso added.
Aston Martin arrives on the Dutch GP fifth within the constructors’ standings – however a great distance behind Mercedes and with greater than double the factors tally of RB.
“The goal is, what, ninth and tenth in each race?” Alonso mentioned. “That’s what we’ve striving for. The highest 4 are 30 to 45 seconds forward of us in each race.
“To be within the high eight we’d like a retirement from the automobiles forward. So these are the targets however now we have loads to check, lots of concepts on the automotive that we need to strive in preparation for subsequent 12 months’s automotive,” he continued.
“So what will likely be my largest motivation or my largest concern for the final ten races – to have a superb understanding of most of the unknowns now we have and end the season with a transparent thought. It doesn’t matter if we’re within the factors or not, however we’d like to verify we begin on the appropriate path subsequent 12 months.”
In the meantime, hypothesis is now hardening that Adrian Newey will nearly actually be heading to Aston Martin as soon as his Purple Bull duties conclude early subsequent 12 months.
Alonso was requested by Spanish reporters forward of the Dutch GP if he’s assured Newey can even be carrying inexperienced in 2025 and past.
“I’ve the identical confidence as once I awoke in Monaco someday and so they mentioned there was a press convention at 12 o’clock asserting that he’s becoming a member of Ferrari,” Alonso smiled.
“I imply, they’re all rumours, and now we have so many issues and so many issues to resolve to get efficiency out of the automotive that we can’t be distracted each weekend by the place everybody goes to be.”
