F1 News
Alonso on a lonely Hungarian GP: ‘We are suffering in these last races’
Fernando Alonso spent most of the Hungarian Grand Prix on his own. Other than a tricky pit stop, the experienced driver could also say that not much new has happened to him. The Spaniard was faster than his teammate Lance Stroll, but he did not have enough pace to catch up to the two Ferraris ahead and finished in P9.
"I had a bit of a lonely race. We didn't have much pace to attack the cars in front. We didn't have big rivals in the cars behind either, and I tried to go as hard as I could, but we lacked those three or four tenths of a second to put George (Russell) and Carlos (Sainz) in front in trouble," Alonso told DAZN Spain about his mostly uneventful race at the Hungaroring.
The Spanish former world champion remained critical about their chances in Spa, after he has already criticised this weekend’s qualifying format and the new tyres ahead of the race. "Yes, it will be complicated (in Spa). Now I think we need the more free practices the better, to try something on the car, which we have doubts in some parts, if it works or not, and the Sprint is not going to give it to us, because we go directly to the time trial on Friday, but well it's the same for everyone, it rains Spa. So we have to be ready for anything."
Aston Martin losing ground
Aston Martin has not been near the podium since Canada, while Alonso himself already six of them this season. "Surely we (Aston Martin) have dropped in performance, there is no doubt that we are suffering in these last races. We are working hard, it's time to grit our teeth, to be focused, to try to understand everything that is going on in the car."
He continued: "I think the first part of the championship has been outstanding, despite these last races which have been regular. Now we have the second half of the championship and we will try to put it right somehow."
'A reality check'
Team Principal Mike Krack, similarly to DAZN's Spanish branch, said he was disappointed following this weekend. "A reality check. We've seen that we've had a couple of races where we thought it was track specific and that we could be fast here and we weren't. It shows that we're not where we were. It shows that we are not where we were. Other teams have passed us, we have to be honest with ourselves. We had 70 seconds after 70 laps, this is the ground we have to make up and there is no way to hide, we have to improve the car."
"I think other people have developed faster than us. I said at the beginning of the season that we are competing with very strong teams in the development race and we are not fast enough. (...) We are not looking at 2024. We have to raise our level with this car," Krack concluded.