Fernando Alonso revealed that Aston Martin’s upgrade package at Formula 1‘s British Grand Prix didn’t provide as large a performance boost as the team hoped.
With several teams bringing fresh upgrades to Silverstone, the midfield battle in F1 is heating up.
While Sauber has made clear progress recently, promoting the team to sixth in the Constructors’ Standings, Aston Martin’s quiet resurgence is starting to make waves behind.
A double points finish at Silverstone helped the British marque leapfrog Haas into eighth and draw level with Racing Bulls in seventh place.
Alonso has been in strong form as of late, and after scoring his first points of the season at his home race in Spain, he followed that up with three consecutive top-10 finishes.
That turnaround was sparked by an upgrade package introduced at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
However, after qualifying seventh at Silverstone, the Spaniard admitted the latest package brought to Britain hasn’t had quite the same impact so far.
“Yeah, upgrades were tested yesterday, with a slight advantage to the new package, but small, so it took a little bit of time to really analyse the data and see the differences,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“So, yeah, obviously a small step in the right direction, we take it for sure, but we thought the upgrades that everyone brought here, it seems that you level yourself, you don’t make a big step forward. And yeah, in qualifying, it’s what we saw.”
Despite capitalising on George Russell and Charles Leclerc’s misfortune, Alonso finished ninth, losing positions to drivers down the order amid mixed weather at Silverstone.
Alonso confident in Aston Martin’s progress
But although Alonso remains encouraged by Aston Martin’s progress this season, he conceded that the latest upgrade at Silverstone didn’t quite deliver as hoped.
The veteran did, however, stress the ongoing need for setup refinement when introducing updates and expressed confidence in the overall package going forward.
“Absolutely, I think what we brought so far to the track seems to work and deliver the expectations, even sometimes a little bit more than expected, sometimes a little bit less than expected,” he added.
“Maybe the Imola upgrade was more than expected and this one at the moment less.
“But still to optimise the setup and always when you bring a package, there is always a different ride height window where the package operates.
“There is always maybe some tweaks in the suspension, going softer, stiffer and things like that.
“So I think in the next races we will see a better, a more performing package.”
When asked whether he is feeling ‘at one’ with the car since the updates at Imola, the 43-year-old acknowledged the distinct nature of the Silverstone layout.
“It’s a very unique circuit, a lot of high speed here, the car feels good in the high speed,” he explained.
“So I don’t know if it’s the updated package. I only tested the new package; it was only Lance [Stroll] testing the old car yesterday, so I don’t know.
“I felt good in the car all weekend, so it’s a positive step for sure.”
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