Fernando Alonso has pinpointed two weaknesses Aston Martin needs to address on its 2024 design for the team to take the fight to its F1 front-running rivals next season.
Alonso's move to Aston Martin in 2023 proved to be a successful one, as he spearheaded the team's resurgence and secured their best season in recent years.
The Spaniard's experience and raw pace were instrumental in delivering eight podium finishes, including runner-up spots in Monaco, Canada and in the Netherlands.
In the first part of the season, Aston’s AMR23 car proved to be a competitive package, allowing Team Silverstone to challenge for second in F1’s Constructors’ standings.
However, as the year progressed, the team struggled to maintain consistency and suffered a drop in performance.
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While 2023 marked a significant step forward for Aston, Alonso singled out two key characteristics of last year’s that the team needs to address in order for the outfit to remain among F1’s front-runners: the narrow operating window of its car and its disappointing straight-line speed.
“I think we need to find some consistency,” Alonso commented. “Maybe one of the weak points was that the car has to operate in a very narrow window.
“It’s the same for everybody [in these regulations], but it seems we struggle a little bit, and it would be nice if we could always perform at a stable level next year.
“And also if we can improve the straight line speed. I think in performance numbers that’s our weak point, always a little bit too slow in the straights.
“If we want to be as fast as the others we have to drop too much the rear wing and then we ended up slow in the corners as well.”
Aston’s development programme turned into a trial-and-error exercise in the second half of the season. At the time, team boss Mike Krack insisted that Aston had not lost its way and that it was more a case learning and understanding the updates.
Alonso reckons that the car’s progressively narrowing operating window was a direct consequence of its development.
“I think [it was] a consequence a little bit of the development of the car,” he said.
“But as I said, it’s the same for everybody. When you try to extract that little bit extra on the performance of the car, you need to sacrifice some areas to gain in some others, so you start narrowing the window.
“But I think we have some ideas for next year and everything should be better.”
©AstonMartin
On the positive side, Alonso cited the AMR23’s minimal tyre degradation and the team’s overall execution, operations and fighting spirit.
“The strength was tyre degradation,” said the two-time world. “I think Sundays the car is very strong always, execution of the strategy, motivation of the team.
“We are a happy team, we are a young team, and we are celebrating every result as a win; this energy is important to keep for next year.”
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