With the Dutch Grand Prix making major upgrades to its AMR23 car, including new flooring, Aston Martin is facing a clear goal: to regain the competitive level it showed in the first grand prix of the season, which enabled Fernando Alonso to reach six podiums. Asturian returned from vacation with a wide smile on his face Adverse weather conditions on the Zandvoort circuit. His first question at the press conference was frank: “Yes, I hope to be back on the podium this weekend”.
The final appointments before the summer break were not positive for Aston Martin, who saw how developments successfully implemented in Canada hindered its performance in subsequent races. The Silverstone team is now working hard to rectify the trajectory of the car’s development and will be showing the aerodynamic improvements for the first time at Zandvoort. “We also have new parts in Canada and Silverstone, and now we have new aerodynamics that we hope will work here as well,” Alonso said. said.
“It was a little unexpected to see how competitive we were in the first few races and how we maximized that competition. We want to return to a more competitive position in the second half of the season.”Everything is very balanced and we want to be in this fight until the last race.Realizing that the front area of the grid was compressed apart from Red Bull and Verstappen, Fernando said he was on his way to the championship. “There are four teams vying for the podium, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, and it will be difficult to get six more podiums in the second half of the season. I won’t be disappointed if I don’t get on the podium anymore, the fight is tough right now but I would be happy if there are two or three more.”
Fernando was wary of his World Cup fight for third place with Hamilton just one point away: “Every weekend will be different, there will be ups and downs and it will change every race depending on everyone’s progress. In the final tests, Mercedes was a little faster than us and we were a little more inconsistent,” Alonso recalled.Things change very quickly in Formula 1.. We’ve done very well to achieve these results throughout the year and are currently playing in the Champions League against very strong opponents who are outpacing us in disabled development. Aston Martin has a big challenge ahead and now we need to find a good direction for both this year and 2024.”
After the summer vacation, Alonso arrives with his batteries ‘charged’: “I haven’t met anyone this summer. I’ve been to Spain, but not Ibiza or Mallorca. I was at home with my family. We all need some time. Especially the mechanics and the end in Abu Dhabi is still very far,” he explained.