Fernando Alonso has signalled positivity amid initial struggles for Aston Martin, after Lance Stroll stated the team’s new Formula 1 challenger needed four seconds worth of extra pace.
The Silverstone-based squad‘s AMR26 – the first car to be designed by Adrian Newey – has been at the centre of scrutiny and intrigue since it broke cover in the Barcelona ‘shakedown week’ in January.
Amid a myriad of unique aerodynamic profiles, Newey recently explained that there will be some issues, due to some completions of areas of the car were made at the “last minute”.
Another complication has been the new power unit from Honda, which naturally brings its own problems, as the Japanese marque is returning to F1 in an exclusive deal with Aston, effectively making it an OEM.
This means that Aston has been left to build its own additional components, such as the gearbox, something that previous PU supplier Mercedes would have taken care of.
The opening day saw a bleak outcome from Aston, with Stroll completing just 36 laps, and afterwards saying that the team needed to find “four seconds of performance”.
When asked exactly where Aston is at present, Alonso told media including Motorsport Week that it was “difficult to know.”
“I think Lance said that because in Barcelona, we were four-and-a-half [seconds off], and in the first two days [of Bahrain testing], we were like four-and-a-half or five,” the Spaniard continued. “So it seemed like a trend in the last three days.
“But I don’t know. I did a lap yesterday that I went off in Turn 4, and then from that point to the finish line I improved eight tenths. So it’s just to give you the number of errors that there are in every lap we are doing now.”
Fernando Alonso indicates trial and error for Aston Martin after first week of Bahrain testing
It would be fair to say that Alonso was not glowing with positivity about the AMR26’s chances of rapid improvement, but indicated that advancements in its competitiveness is very much within its grasp.
“There are laps that we are eight tenths up and down by changing one setting,” he explained.
“So it’s not that we need to find two tenths. When we optimise, maybe we unlock seconds.
“So let’s hope next week we have a better picture. As I said, we are realistic. We will not be the fastest in Melbourne. We started on the slow side and on the back foot, but difficult to guess exactly where.”
Aston has a chance to regain hope in the second week of testing, with the first day’s running commencing this coming Wednesday [18 February] for another three day programme.
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