Fernando Alonso acknowledges that in the middle of a difficult season for Aston Martin, he and his teammate Lance Stroll almost end up entertaining themselves during the race, while testing different approaches.
After the Miami Grand Prix, the Spaniard explained: “Yes, we try to have a bit of fun. Lance and I talk about it every morning: are we going to drive together, wait for each other, or something else, to learn about energy management, especially since we didn’t do much running this winter.”
He also mentioned duels (photo above) with Sergio Pérez, now at Cadillac, in an almost playful spirit: “With Checo, we tried to do the same, for the show. And today, we had a bit more pace than them.”
The Mexican also praised Alonso’s talent: “Fighting with Fernando is always a pleasure. He is a very aggressive driver, but also extremely intelligent. Everything he does is calculated. And on top of that, he is very clean on track.”
No improvement in sight
Despite these moments, the reality remains complicated for Aston Martin. While reliability issues — notably vibrations — now seem resolved, performance remains insufficient.
“We haven’t had any reliability issues, that’s the positive point. It’s the second consecutive race without problems,” Alonso noted. “But the race pace was nothing special. We were simply trying to limit losses with what we had.”
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Even more worrying, no major improvement is expected in the short term: “It doesn’t change much for us, because we don’t have new parts planned for the Canadian Grand Prix. I think we won’t bring anything before race 12 or 14.”
Future in question
In other words, progress will depend more on driving than on the car: “We can improve in the way we drive, but not in performance. Difficult races await us.”
Despite everything, the two-time world champion keeps perspective: “I am calm because I understand the situation. Even if we gain one or two tenths, it doesn’t change anything: we are P20 or P19, and the next car is a second ahead.”
And true to his humor, the Matador concluded ironically with a quip: “If I finish fifth in a race, I will retire that very evening.”
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