Fernando Alonso remains “confident” in Aston Martin’s prospects in Formula 1 in 2024 despite dropping to ninth place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Alonso admitted it had surpassed expectations when he landed sixth place in Friday’s qualifying hour, ahead of both McLaren drivers and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
With Aston Martin tending to adopt a stronger race pace last term, Alonso professed that he could not rule out a repeat podium result from materialising.
However, Alonso was overhauled by those behind him and finished a distant ninth – but the two-time world champion isn’t concerned about Aston Martin’s race pace.
![Franco Colpinto [front] avoided Liam Lawson [back] at the start of the Australian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Franco-Colapinto-F1-Aus-GP-120x86.webp)
“When I went to the factory at Christmas and in January the expectations were very realistic,” Alonso said.
“We knew what kind of a step we were making over winter but I think we changed completely the philosophy of how to approach the championship with a good starting point but then a very continuous progress during the season.
“Last year we put everything I think at the beginning and then we were not able to react to the fast pace of the top teams.
“We have more hopes this year in the second part of the championship.
“We need to reconfirm that in a few weeks and a few races time. But I’m confident, I’m happy. I’m where I expected to be, to be honest. Fourth or fifth fastest team as we finished last year.
“Now it’s up to us to do a kind of McLaren 2023 step and become a stronger team in the second part.”
Alonso put the disparity between qualifying and race pace down to an “exceptional” lap and “is something to study” given the team’s simulations suggested the Spaniard would finish ninth with a gap to the four teams ahead and those behind, which is exactly how his race transpired.
“I think I had the McLaren 18 seconds ahead and the Sauber 28 seconds behind so we were in the middle of no one’s race,” he assessed.
Moving onto Jeddah next weekend Alonso hopes the pendulum could swing in Aston’s favour.
A limitation of the AMR23 was high-speed corners, a prominent feature at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, but Alonso says the AMR24 has improved in this area.
“I think it’s going to be interesting,” he reasoned. “Very different circuit characteristics [in Jeddah].
“This year’s car we only tested [in Bahrain] in winter and now in the first race so it’s going to be the first comparison on a different track.
“More or less apart from Aston I think the the strengths of the cars are very similar to last year.
“Ferrari second fastest. It was second fastest last year [in Bahrain] as well [but] Leclerc’s battery last year prevented a podium from them and this year they got the podium.
“So in Saudi, it was more Aston and Mercedes a little bit ahead of Ferrari. So let’s see if for us and for Mercedes we are a little bit stronger.”
And what of the reigning World Champions, who continually bang the drum that the competition is closer in 2024 and Bahrain’s dominance was an outlier?
Alonso concluded: “I expect Red Bull to keep dominating.”
![Franco Colpinto [front] avoided Liam Lawson [back] at the start of the Australian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Franco-Colapinto-F1-Aus-GP-350x250.webp)
![Franco Colpinto [front] avoided Liam Lawson [back] at the start of the Australian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Franco-Colapinto-F1-Aus-GP-360x180.webp)
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