Alonso won't confirm Newey’s arrival: 'They are only rumours'
F1 News
- Corwin Kunst
Fernando Alonso hoped after last year's strong start to the season that he would eventually be able to really fight for the Formula 1 world title again at Aston Martin, but that hope has come to an end this season - at least for now. The British team is somewhat in no-man's land, but the two-time world champion is patient and believes better times are coming. Whether that will be with or without Adrian Newey, the Spaniard cannot or will not say.
Aston Martin scored no points again this weekend. Alonso finished 11th, half a second behind Kevin Magnussen in P10. Lance Stroll could not hold his own at Monza last weekend. The Canadian finished nineteenth, a lap behind winner Charles Leclerc. In the World Championship, the team led by Mike Krack is comfortably fifth, with no prospects of fourth place.
Alonso acknowledges that this is the situation Aston Martin is in. "Yeah, of course, nothing we can do. I mean, we are in our team's hands, and I think Lance and myself, we're trying to do the best we can every weekend. But I think this year we've been, Lance and myself, very close, two or three seconds away at the end of the race, either in front or behind. Today was one of those weekends that I was a little bit better, and I was happy with the car and pushing to the level that maybe was beyond 100%, and that was P11."
Disappointment prevailed with the 43-year-old driver afterwards. "We need to be patient. We need to understand that the big target is 2026. But, at the same time, I think as a team, we could accept not being in the top four battle. They are top teams and they are well in front of us. But now to be behind Williams, behind Haas, behind VCARB, I think we need to raise the bar a little bit. We need to get better."
Adrian Newey and 2025
Rumours of Adrian Newey's arrival are getting louder by the week. But they are not more than rumours, according to Alonso. "Well, still only rumours. And I think it's not only one man's job to fix the things [the current problems]," said the world championship number nine after 15 races.
Virtually nothing about the rules will change in 2025. Does that mean there won't be much to gain for Aston Martin next year either? "Well, I think we still have time to react. It's only the end of August. It's the first of September. McLaren improved in four months from last to first, or from last to podium. So we have clear examples. Also, Mercedes has started the same as us. We were level with Mercedes for the first four races, and they won three races already this year. So I'm not fond of excuses."
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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14 September 2024
