Alonso smashes expectations again: 'Nothing showed it was possible'
F1 News
The Aston Martin garage is optimistic after confirming Adrian Newey's addition to their team. Their current car is not at the top in terms of performance, but Fernando Alonso eventually finished in P8 after putting together a strong weekend in Singapore. Team principal Mike Krack explained this wasn't expected.
"Today, finishing eighth is a bit better than our best dreams. We are just lucky we got points but it was possible to be P15. I think we should be 15th and 16th. We are eight, two seconds behind the Ferrari. I don't know if I can do more," Fernando Alonso himself declared after the Singapore GP last Sunday.
Numbers confirm Alonso's qualities
A regular issue in the 2024 season is also present at Aston Martin. The team have brought upgrades to tracks, but sometimes, it was for the better to take them off their car. "I think apart from one team, everybody's putting upgrades on, removing part of them or removing them all, going back to a previous pack. The subject is not an easy one. I wish we would be in a different position. But we are not. Maybe the others have also understood quicker than we did? We have to be self-critical. We cannot, these results that we have here should not hide the fact we are not where we want to be."
According to Krack, his Spanish driver was indeed correct, as he outperformed the numbers at the Asian circuit. "Yes, at the end of the day we have our numbers and we do our pre-race estimations. Now in Baku obviously he finished higher up because there was attrition. But today, and again, full transparency, none of our estimations were predicting that we could finish where we finished," he declared, praising the driver.
"Now we could say the predictions are bad. Normally they work out pretty well, and we had I think good calls today, not getting disrupted by others, and very good management in a phase where we didn't build a gap. And then this was sufficient to hold, obviously, if you are very similar, it's also difficult for others to pass you, but first of all you have to maintain that position and we also passed Hulkenberg on strategy," the team principal added.
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