F1 News
Alonso on Aston Martin's tough 2024: "I'm used to not having the best car"
The 2024 Formula 1 season led to a considerable dropoff for Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso. After eight podium finishes in 2023 after joining the British team from Alpine, the Spaniard could not even find his way near the podium just a year later, with a clear regression in performance and consistency hitting the team that not many expected. But did the team's struggles affect the motivation of the two-time world champion as the season went along?
Alonso, then 41 years of age, made the move from Alpine to Aston Martin for the 2023 season, making a forward step on the grid and defying many thoughts about his age. His results that year also showed that he still had plenty of quality left behind the wheel, with the P3 at the opening race of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix showing he could still race, and race superbly, with a sublime divebomb on Lewis Hamilton highlighting that. The Spaniard would rack up seven more podiums along the way over the season, collecting 206 points to finishing in a superb fourth place in the drivers' standings.
However, just next season, those results would be miles away from what the two-time world champion would be able to achieve with his Aston Martin, and the chances of podium finishes were well and truly out of sight. 2023 may have been a bit of an overachievement for Alonso and Aston Martin, but the low of 2024 is something that he and the team will hope they can get past quickly, with the Spaniard only amassing 70 points at the end of 2024.
Alonso on if there was any struggle in motivation
Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to GPblog and several others in the paddock, Alonso was asked if there were ever any struggles for motivation in a tricky 2024: "It was not difficult to keep motivated because every two weeks you have a chance to do a little bit better than the previous weekend. So this calendar doesn't allow you to rest or to have time to think.
"You're continually racing, so it was not difficult to get motivation. But in a way, I'm used to not having the best car. I think I had one time the best car in Toyota in WEC in 25 years of racing, so I'm always motivated," concluded the now 43-year-old.