Fernando Alonso has admitted Aston Martin’s latest upgrades at this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix won’t address the weaknesses of its 2024 Formula 1 car.
Aston Martin has responded to Alonso’s desire to witness the team be more aggressive in the development race and will bolt on more updates to the AMR24 at Imola.
However, the Silverstone-based squad has maintained its place at the tail end of the leading five group that has broken clear of the rest in the opening rounds in 2024.
But despite Aston Martin continuing to churn out updated parts, Alonso has revealed that “the step will be “much less than what was published in the Spanish media”.
“I think it’s going to be a good step,” he said. “It was a good step in Bahrain. It was a good step in Jeddah in Australia. And in Japan. And a little bit in Miami.
“So basically, every race we brought new parts this year. It’s no different here in Imola. If it’s going to be more lap time than other upgrades remain to be seen tomorrow.
“We have three practices here. Different than the last two Sprint events. So, we have plenty of time to really optimize the new package. And the set-up.
“But I don’t think that it’s different to any other race. And we will have more upgrades in Monaco next week. More in Canada. More in Barcelona.
“So, it’s a long shot this one. And it’s a long race until the end of the year.”
Alonso denied that the developments have been tailored towards the race pace issues that have tended to see Aston Martin drop back from promising starting spots.
The Spaniard also explained that the marque’s upgrades this term have worked as anticipated, but cited it’s tough to make progress when its rivals are also improving.
Asked whether the Imola updates would help with the weak spots on the car, Alonso replied: “Not yet.
“I think at the moment what we are bringing is just added performance. More load in the car. Less drag in the car. So just better lap time.
“Every time that we brought anything this year. Seems to be correlated to the wind tunnel. And everything added performance to the car. Which is a good thing.
“But this is a relative gain. If you bring half a tenth. And the whole grid brings two-tenths. You are one-tenth and a half worse than the previous weekend.
“So this is something that we need to keep on pushing. Working. And as I said: I think the key will be to be consistent throughout the season. More than one big upgrade.
“And then just wait a few races. But for the weaknesses of the car. And the balance that we are maybe facing now. I think this is a more specific project. That is not yet on track.”
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