Miami, Fla. – Formula 1 season in 2023 began with a surprise team fighting in front of the grid.
Aston Martin.
The team cried out from the gate as veteran driver Fernando Alonso joined the team and drove along with Lance's walk. Both drivers finished at points in the season-opening Bahrain Granpurin – a walk while recovering from a painful wrist injury – and Alonso scored a podium finish in six of his first eight races.
However, the team waned their stretch and settled on a fifth-place finish in the Constructors Championship.
This year's fifth place finish looks good in the distance.
The team arrived in Miami, sitting seventh in the ranking with 10 points, 10 points behind sixth Haas. There is hope for the future, but it presents a rather difficult challenge.
“Yeah, we're not as competitive as we want,” Fernando Alonso told the media. SB Nationin Miami on Thursday. “There are a few factors that have made it a little difficult at the moment in terms of pace.
Middle. They leveled up, they were approaching the top four and we didn't take that step.
“Yeah, it's still a long championship so we need to respond.”
As pointed out, with the arrival of legendary designer Adrian Newey, who joined the team in March, there was his hope on the horizon. Alonso recently spent time with Newy at the team's brand new facility in Silverstone, but potential fixes could be turned off in the future.
“This year is a continuation of some of the issues we've found over the last two seasons and I don't think we've overcome some of the obstacles we've found,” Alonso continued. “I was in the factory and had lunch with Adrian.
“It was a more general story about the team in general and how he felt in his first few weeks at Aston, and how he felt about some of the changes that could happen with the team for a better future under his guidance and his experience.
“Yeah, it's always exciting to talk to him and eventually work with him.”
Still, with Newey taking part this season and new regulations coming into effect next year, Alonso believes the focus of legendary engineers should focus on the next generation of cars.
“Designing the car the way he has, how much he needs and how much time he needs to devote, he probably prefers to join the team a year ago and then start. [the 2026 car]Alonso continued [the] '26 Project He is sure he thinks it's late, so he fully understands that he needs to focus only on next year's cars.
“And this year he didn't touch the car. He didn't design the car so I don't think it's up to him to fix it.”
As to whether Aston Martin can steal some points this weekend, Miami Grand Prix Factoring did its best to ease expectations as one of the weekends of the Formula 1 sprint races that can create more opportunities for the team.
“The closest example is China, which was a little better than expected on Friday and returned to normal position by Saturday. If we choose a different strategy or think we can score points that are even more difficult on Sunday, “So that could happen, but I don't think Miami was a really good path for us.”
“Even in 2023, I got on the podium here. [Alonso finished third in Miami that season during the team’s tremendous start] We have lived with Quali. All of our free practices were a bit uncompetitive about the standards in early 2023 and last year. Even if we started the season strong, Miami was tough.
“Yeah, let's see if we'll change things this year. But it could certainly be a tough weekend.”
Despite those milder expectations, Alonso seemed hopeful that he was round the corner.
“we [headed] In the right direction, but as usual in Formula One, nothing changes one day to the next.
“It takes time for everything.”
SB Nation You'll be on the ground throughout the Miami Grand Prix, so check out the Story Stream all week.
