Fernando Alonso insisted that Aston Martin, even with the complicated period it has been going through at the start of this Formula 1 season, is making progress in the championship – even without updates for the AMR26 until after the summer break.
Read more F1: Cadillac is already preparing for a possible return of V8 engines
After five rounds, the team is in last place in the Constructors’ Championship without a single point scored, alongside Cadillac. The best result was a 15th place by the Spaniard at the Miami GP and the Canadian in Montreal – they are behind the rookie team due to Valtteri Bottas’ 13th place.
The list of problems includes vibrations in the chassis, which seems to be a resolved issue, the production of their own gearbox, previously bought from Mercedes, and the low competitiveness of the Honda engine. But even so, the two-time world champion sees steps taken by Aston Martin in F1. “Sometimes we make good starts, we end up completely out of position and then gradually lose ground,” Alonso said.
Read more Dener Pires cites «pride» of Porsche Cup being the main support event at Le Mans
“We lose a position every lap and then return to our natural position at the back of the pack, but that is the situation and it will continue like this until after the summer. So, we accept that and answer the same questions every weekend, but we are calm about the situation. There is progress every time we go on track; there are updates on the car, the engine, the settings, and the gearbox since Miami [to Canada], and we have improved the gearbox a lot, the gear synchronization, the downshifts,” he continued.
“It is difficult to quantify how this translates into lap time, but we were definitely faster than in Miami with exactly the same car, simply because we adjusted some details. Therefore, I hope many small things happen between here and Monaco, and I hope there is another step forward, but the fundamental problem and the three seconds of pace will have to come from engine power and the aerodynamic package, and that will only happen in the second half of the year,” he concluded.
Read more F1: Participants of the press conference in Monte Carlo announced
