Aston Martin has told Fernando Alonso that he must “hang on” for now amid the team’s current Formula 1 struggles, as it battles to find time to bring much-needed improvements.
Alonso was left frustrated after his home Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, where a lack of performance from the AMR24 left both him and team-mate Lance Stroll out of the points.
Afterwards, he suggested the team had to concentrate on delivering developments that worked, rather than talking up its potential.
“We cannot get too frustrated,” said Alonso. “It’s time to work harder, to talk less, to deliver more. It’s what we want to do.”
Aston Martin is well aware of some of the critical weaknesses of the car – which includes mid-turn understeer through long corners – but these are not easy traits to dial out.
And while there are hopes that imminent developments – including an upgrade that could appear for the Hungarian Grand Prix – will improve things, Aston Martin says its situation is made more complicated by the run of races now.
With F1 heading to Austria and the second event of a triple-header, before back-to-back races in Hungary and Belgium, it says finding time to build on knowledge learned at every race, and then work on bringing improvements, was not easy.
Team principal Mike Krack said: “That is one of the issues that you have. You have now five races in six weeks.
“We have had quite a lot of understanding after Monaco, Imola, and Canada as well, where we scored 14 points by the way with the same car, but it’s about fixing them. You have no time. That’s the main problem at the moment.
“So we have to hang on like this, get the best out of the car each weekend and bring these parts as quick as possible.”
While Aston Martin has had a troubled past with upgrades not delivering what had been hoped for, there appears to be a degree of faith that what is coming before the summer break will be better.
Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo by: Francois Tremblay / Motorsport Images
And with Alonso feeling that the forthcoming upgrades can make the difference, Krack too said he had some confidence.
“I share his optimism, but also I have to share the optimism,” he said. “From what I’ve seen, it’s encouraging.
“We have clearly a better understanding than we had before. That is also what makes us confident looking forward.
“We will continue to bring parts as soon as they become ready, starting in the next races. So it is not we should focus only on Budapest, but we should really try to improve as quick as possible.”
Krack also said that he did not have any concern that team owner Lawrence Stroll’s patience was wearing thin, with the squad having failed to build on the impressive start it made to the 2024 campaign.
Asked about Stroll’s personality in being super tough in his demands of what he wanted to see, Krack said: “Yeah, but he’s also very knowledgeable about how Formula 1 works, how Formula 1 operates.
“So even if he’s not patient, he knows that making parts takes time. So he’s up to date with everything and it’s for us now to deliver them.”
