MIAMI — Fernando Alonso is braced for a repetitive few months of media interviews because he thinks his Aston Martin team will be running at the back of the field until the second half of the season at the very least.
The big money Aston Martin-Honda project has had a nightmare start to this year.
Two-time champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll came into the season with high hopes of moving into championship contention but have spent the opening four rounds battling the upstart Cadillac team to not be last.
Neither driver has scored a point or made it out of the Q1 qualifying session yet.
The Canadian Grand Prix at the end of May is the last race before a stretch of European races which run through to F1’s August summer break — Alonso doubts much will change before then.
Asked if Montreal will be a better weekend, Alonso said: “No, let’s see. I think we will make steps on that drivability point of view. Performance not, so we need to stick together with the team. It’s going to be a very tough, tough race.
“It’s going to feel repetitive, obviously, we need to face the media every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
When a journalist in the media pen apologised, Alonso said: “No, it’s good and you do your job. We drive fast, but it’s repetitive, the message. We have no upgrades until after summer, so we don’t need to come to Canada [being asked] … What we expect in Canada is the same, what we expect in Austria is the same. That’s the thing that we need to manage, the frustration level from everybody in the team, but I think we are all relaxed.
“We are all committed to, after summer, having a better second half of the year. Let’s see if we can do that.”
Alonso said he is able to keep a strong face on it because he can see the bigger picture.
“I’m at peace because I understand the situation. The team explained to me that if we bring one or two tenths every race, it doesn’t change our position. We are P20 or P19 and the next car is one second in front.
“So even if we bring two tenths every race, it doesn’t change our position. And it’s a huge stress in the system, in the budget cap and things like that. Until we don’t have one second and a half or two second improvement, it’s better not to press the button in production because we waste money.”
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Alonso has still yet to sign a contract to continue racing with Aston Martin beyond 2026, but has hinted that he is strongly considering continuing his mammoth F1 career for another season.
When a journalist asked him if he had any conditions which would automatically convince him to stay for another year, like finishing fifth at a race this season, Alonso laughed again.
“If I finish P5 in some race, I will probably retire that afternoon,” he said, before turning and leaving the media pen.
