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Miguel Sanz
MONZA
Updated
FFernando Alonso had a good race in Monza, and was just a few tenths away from scoring points without being able to fight for points in a weekend where Aston Martin suffered a lot and in the end could only finish 11th, a result that for Fernando is what he expected although it should not be.
“We tried to catch up with the guys in front at the end, when we were 8 seconds behind Albon and 1 second behind Magnussen. P11, being just one second behind P9 is very painful, because I think we deserved more in a well-executed race, But the car is what it is at the moment, and we have to improve.”
“We anticipate that the race will be two stops for us.“We are usually very concerned about the tyres on our car, we depend completely on the grip and we degrade more than the others, this is our problem on Sundays,” insisted the Asturian before launching a warning to sailors.
“We can’t do anything. We’re in the hands of our team, and I think Lance and I try to do the best we can every weekend. An inspired weekend like this one on my side, I know it’s going to go totally unnoticed, it’s going to be an anonymous 2024 Monza for Alonso, but I think we’ve been very close this year. It was one of those weekends where I was a bit better, and I was happy with the car and pushing at a level that maybe wasn’t 100%. And the best we managed was P11, so yeah, disappointed with that. We need to be patient, we need to understand that the big goal is 2026,” he said.
“But at the same time, I think as a teamwe could accept not being in the top 4 of the battle, they are superior teams and they are well ahead of us, but now to be behind Williams, behind Haas, behind Toro Rosso, I think we have to raise the level a little, we have to do better,” he said clearly.
When will that improvement come? “I think that until we have an improvement in the car, this is what there is, and this is not enough, It’s not enough in Monza, it’s not enough in Zanvoort, in Spain, in Hungary, so I don’t think there will be a big change in Baku, Singapore or Austin, “Unless we bring new cars, that’s the plan, the team is aware of the situation, they’re working hard, so yes, we’re staying united, we’re still pushing, last weekend it was one point, today it was close to two points, and that’s going to be our battle.”
And 2025? “The problem is that 2025 is more or less the end of 2024, it is just an evolution, But I think we still have time to react.it’s just the end of August, it’s the first of September, McLaren has improved in four months, from last to first, from last to podium, so we have clear examples, Mercedes started out the same as us, we were level with Mercedes in the first four championships, and they won three championships already this year, so I’m not a fan of excuses.”
