Fernando Alonso has expressed he is more hopeful about Aston Martin‘s prospects under Formula 1‘s new 2026 rules now the team has simulation tools it can trust.
Aston Martin will head into the remaining eight races sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, a substantial but not insurmountable 24 points behind Williams above.
The Silverstone-based squad has mounted an admirable response to a wretched start, which saw Alonso go the opening eight rounds without clocking a single point.
However, Alonso has registered six top-10 finishes in the eight races since ending his drought as mid-season upgrades have enhanced the AMR25’s competitiveness.
The Spaniard, who is two points behind team-mate Lance Stroll, has claimed that Aston Martin’s improvement owes much to the team making the car more driveable.
“I think it is a lot better than at the start of the season,” Alonso told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think my first point in the championship came in race eight or race nine. So yeah, at the beginning, we didn’t have a car to be in the top 10 on Sundays.
“And now it seems that we are able to fight in the midfield and to score points regularly. In the last nine races, I think I’ve been seven times in Q3, in the top 10.
“So definitely there is a very different car now. It is better on the aero platform. We didn’t change much mechanically on the set-up.
“Yes, we are working a little bit weekend to weekend, but I think aerodynamically the car is a lot more stable, a lot easier to drive, and we can put the laps together.”
Why Aston Martin is better-prepared for F1 rules change
Alonso’s previous two campaigns with Aston Martin had witnessed the team regress relative to its rivals as it struggled with flawed developments on both occasions.
But the two-time F1 champion has been encouraged that the parts the British outfit has introduced this season have delivered the step that the simulations predicted.
When asked whether that made him more optimistic going into next season’s extensive overhaul to the technical regulations, Alonso responded: “Yeah, definitely.
“I think to trust the tools that we have in the factory and bring things to the track that actually deliver what was expected from them is obviously a very good thing. We didn’t have that in 2023 and in 2024.
“So yeah, it’s good to go back to a more normal factory-track kind of correlation and develop the 2026 car next winter, knowing that the tools are correct.”
READ MORE – How Aston Martin is aiming to avoid repeating F1 2024 development ‘chaos’
Discussion about this post