Fernando Alonso He had a weekend to forget at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prixconcluding Sunday's race in 19th position. Now his only objective is to recover in the Monaco Grand Prix that is being held this weekend, so he did not hesitate to send a serious warning to Aston Martin to avoid a new fiasco .
The problems for Alonso They started when he had an accident with his AMR24 which raised questions about whether the car would be repaired in time for qualifying. Fortunately, it was repaired, but his luck did not improve. An off-track in Q1 left him in the last position for classification. Alonso is determined to put the dramatic weekend in Imola behind him and focus on Monaco, where he hopes to perform much better and score key points for the green team.
For Emilia Romagna, those from Silverstone came with something more than a simple update adapted to the circuit and They announced with great fanfare the biggest improvement package of the season. Aston Martin introduced a new modified floor, and a complete redesign of the sidepods, aimed at improving one of the points that generates the most load on the car: the lower channel between the floor and the radiators. They also added changes related to the suspensions and the diffuser.
But far from the revolution they promised, it turned out to be a fiasco. The bad result generated many doubts about the validity of the aerodynamic package premiered at Imola, although Lance Stroll offered good race pace to climb from 13th to ninth position.
The Spaniard warned his team this week of what could happen in Monaco if the car does not improve. Asked what he expects for this Grand Prix: “I don't know, it depends on the car. If the car doesn't behave well in Monaco, it's torture trying to go fast on that track,” Alonso responded. “First of all, we need to set up the car correctly, we need to find maximum performance,” he added. “If we don't find those two or three extra tenths we are lost,” he said.
balance problems
And in recent times, the complaints from both pilots have been constant. Lance Stroll complained about an Aston Martin with oversteer problems at the entrance and understeer in the center of the curve, with difficulty also attacking the curbs, which could also be a problem here in Monte Carlo. The Asturian explained that the problem is in the nature of these cars: “When you add load to them, they become harder to drive.” But I think we can do a better job and we have some ideas on how to improve the car.” Alonso also confirmed that there are other developments pending that should affect the balance of AMR24 and ensure that the balance can be better in the future.
Despite these complaints, Mike Krack announced a few days ago that the last parts added to the AMR24 would remain in Monaco and that they had no intention of turning back.
One step back
But this has changed in the last few hours and those from Silverstone announce that they are backing down and that they will return to a piece prior to Imola. As it progresses formula1a.unoin Monte Carlo, Aston Martin will use an old front wing specification and not the new design introduced in Italy. The engineers assure that it will give better balance on a track like this. In addition, they will have a new rear part with a spoiler and a high-load beam wing, because in Monte Carlo the engine is not important and everyone will be very aerodynamically loaded. Will this avoid a new nightmare for the Asturian?