Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Formula 1 driver, exhibits high spirits despite a recent dip in team’s performance. He remains positive and believes the team condition is not exceptional but not bad as well.
Unexpectedly, at the start of this year season Aston Martin marked itself on the podium beating Mercedes and Ferrari. The Spaniard still downplayed the victories as luck and celebrates it to be better than last year.
The team has managed to win itself a podium in six out of eight races. However, it slipped its position to Mercedes which has found somewhat of its magic back.
Nonetheless, Alonso is not worried and insists on a better position than last year.
“The team is in very good spirits,” said the Spaniard. “It’s nearly a celebration, to be honest, every weekend, every week we do. Last year we were in Spa, I remember after the August break I came here after signing the contract, they were ninth in the constructors’ championship. Only Williams behind them.
“Now we are in front of Ferrari, for example. Which is just incredible. So, the first half of 2023 is something that has been completely out of nowhere.
“We were so fast from the beginning. And we still enjoy all the good things about this car, the new factory, the new energy in the team and all of these things.
Read More: “Urgent attention” needed to avoid F1 claims Horner
“Obviously we dropped performance in the last few events. Yes, but not as bad as, again, the press conferences [questioning] seem to be. We’ve been four-tenths from pole position last weekend, which is mind-blowing performance after the 2022 campaign. But we’ve been eighth.”
Alonso welcomes the struggling phase for the team. He believes it will keep the team back on track for the 2024 season.
He added, “We are honest with ourselves, we need to improve and we are not hiding that, we lost performance in the last few events. We are working on that and those difficulties will make the team stronger.
“If we have a very easy season, we will not be preparing for 2024. So this kind of difficult weekends and understanding the car, and understanding our main opponents will just make the team stronger for the future.
“So, it’s not that I’m happy to be slow, but it was necessary sometimes in the season to have some difficult weekends
