[ad_1]
Alonso qualified fifth at Suzuka and eventually finished sixth, losing to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in the race.
He managed to stay clear of the Mercedes of George Russell and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri in the final laps of the race.
He believes that the Aston Martin AMR24 is currently the fifth fastest car and that he and the team are achieving better results than expected as a result.
MORE: Suzuka sensation bought out Alonso, but his future is still complicated
“Obviously not totally confident,” he replied when asked if he thought he could keep Piastri and Russell at bay. “Because you never know what pace the others will do at the end of the race
“But yeah, I think it was my best weekend, I don’t know, top five, for me. I think 5th place yesterday in qualifying, this lap, and 6th today in the race are completely out of position. So yes, I am very proud.
When asked to elaborate on his claims, he replied: “Well, I think we are the fifth fastest team by a good margin to fourth and a good margin to sixth. We are well established there.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“I think there is no way to compare us to Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes. This is why completing P5 and P6 is very unusual. We also did this in Australia. We completed P6. Here, again P6.
“Yeah, I think I’m 5th in Jeddah, so we’re running the races really well – and the others, they’re experimenting a little bit with strategy and other things, and we’re capitalizing on those.” But we definitely need to improve the pace.
Aston Martin boss Mike Krack backed Alonso’s claim that he and the team were outperforming with the car they have.
“I tend to agree,” he said when Motorsport.com asked him about his views as a driver. “Because when you look back, we took the first five races as a benchmark, to see where we are. And we were, on average, the fifth fastest team.
“Maybe sometimes joining fourth place, which means you’re fighting for seventh to tenth place, normally.
“And when you don’t have fast cars, you finish ahead of them – obviously there’s track position. But to get track position you have to qualify well. So from that point of view, I think you must agree with this statement.
Although pleased with the team’s execution, Alonso remains adamant that Aston still need to find more performance.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“I think there are several things going on to improve the car,” said the Spaniard. “I think this first package is just the basis for what we will present later in the season. So we still have to analyze a lot of things.
“But like I said, we’re executing really well on Sunday, maximizing points, so even more than we normally deserve.
“The pit stops were great, actually at the second stop, when I saw the green light, and I went there, I said, ‘Whoa, maybe they didn’t change all four tires’, because to me it was like the fastest ever! I’m curious to see the time.
“So there are little things here and there that help achieve the result. But I think fundamentally the pace is not what we want to achieve. And that’s something we need to focus on now.
Watch: F1 Japanese Grand Prix 2024 Review – Normal Service Resumption
[ad_2]
