Fernando Alonso has admitted that the remaining rounds in this season will be pivotal to determining the direction that Aston Martin take with its 2025 Formula 1 car.
Alonso’s arrival at the team last term coincided with Aston Martin starting proceedings as the second-best team as he bagged six podiums in the opening eight races.
However, Aston Martin regressed as the development race ramped up and dropped behind Mercedes, Ferrari and a resurgent McLaren when the campaign concluded.
The Silverstone-based squad began the current season in the same place, but upgrades not delivering the anticipated gain have seen it slip back towards the midfield.
Alonso sustained an uncharacteristic mistake-laden weekend at Imola, which prompted Aston Martin boss Mike Krack to concede the car was “more difficult to drive.”
The Spaniard concurred with Krack’s comments as he explained that the AMR24’s unpredictable behaviour has made it more unforgiving to drive than its predecessor.
“The car is not easy to drive and it’s a little bit unpredictable at times,” Alonso proclaimed.
“So this obviously removes confidence to the driver, when you are not able to push and to trust that the car will do the same in every corner, in every lap.
“This inconsistency is something that is not great when you are behind the wheel and I’m struggling more this year than previously.”
Alonso has amassed 121 fewer points than at the same stage last term, but he has cited that taking added risks to score greater results has compromised his hopes.
“Obviously when margins are so tight and you are in a close battle for one or two points, sometimes you take more risky decisions,” he acknowledged.
“Sometimes you gamble on a strategy. Sometimes you risk more than what you should in the start or on a set-up choice that we went for.
“Instead of changing something minimal before qualifying, we change the whole car before qualifying, because we know that with the current car in FP3, we will not be able to score more than one or two points, so you risk it more.
“There are always consequences with things that you do when you are used to fight for higher positions and you find yourself just aiming for one or two points, sometimes you risk it all to have a top five or being out of the points is not a big loss.
“These kind of things we learn a lot during this season and probably has been our – or, my – personal biggest difficulty.”
Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll disclosed at Silverstone that the squad had gone down a wrong avenue with development and was now on a correction course.
Alonso has stressed that the races past the summer break will be important in deciding the route the British marque chooses to prioritise with next season’s AMR25.
“I think our aim, and my personal wish, is to find the direction and to find a comfortable path into the development that we can go into winter period with some more trust of what we do and then having a more normal 2025 campaign,” he added.
“So 2024, as I said, the top four teams are a little bit out of reach, so we just need to concentrate on our own development, our own trust in the car, and get better for next year.”
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