Alonso was speaking at the pre-F1 Chinese Grand Prix press conference in Shanghai, a week after it was announced he would continue to race with Aston for at least the next two years beyond his current expiring contract at the end of 2024.
When asked if Aston is now building its set of AMR24 cars around him as the team’s main figure – with Alonso having recorded 63% of the team’s 314 points and all of its eight podiums since he joined Alpine at the start of 2022 – he replied: “I don’t think so.
“Lance and I try to help the team as much as possible. I think we have two different driving styles in certain conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.
“I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than me, which is very important for the team. I think the analysis that Lance can do and pass on to the team is crucial for us and to improve the car.
“I’m a little insensitive [sic] to things sometimes and that’s not a good thing.
“We both try to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction in which we develop the car and normally finalize the settings on a weekend is exactly the same.
“So we come to the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think these two different styles are just a good thing for Aston.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Pressed on where he claims he lacks sensitivity behind the wheel, the two-time F1 world champion, 2018-19 world endurance champion and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner said his comments were about how “sometimes I drive the car bypassing the problems we have. “.
He added: “And sometimes that’s a good thing because I can drive any car at any time and get 90% out of it.
“But to reach 100% of the car’s potential, sometimes I can’t do it. [that] without sometimes the help of my teammate on particular details of the settings or balance problems here and there.
“So I think we benefit from each other in different ways and that’s a good thing at the moment.”
Alonso was speaking at the pre-F1 Chinese Grand Prix press conference in Shanghai, a week after it was announced he would continue to race with Aston for at least the next two years beyond his current expiring contract at the end of 2024.
When asked if Aston is now building its set of AMR24 cars around him as the team’s main figure – with Alonso having recorded 63% of the team’s 314 points and all of its eight podiums since he joined Alpine at the start of 2022 – he replied: “I don’t think so.
“Lance and I try to help the team as much as possible. I think we have two different driving styles in certain conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.
“I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than me, which is very important for the team. I think the analysis that Lance can do and pass on to the team is crucial for us and to improve the car.
“I’m a little insensitive [sic] to things sometimes and that’s not a good thing.
“We both try to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction in which we develop the car and normally finalize the settings on a weekend is exactly the same.
“So we come to the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think these two different styles are just a good thing for Aston.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Pressed on where he claims he lacks sensitivity behind the wheel, the two-time F1 world champion, 2018-19 world endurance champion and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner said his comments were about how “sometimes I drive the car bypassing the problems we have. “.
He added: “And sometimes that’s a good thing because I can drive any car at any time and get 90% out of it.
“But to reach 100% of the car’s potential, sometimes I can’t do it. [that] without sometimes the help of my teammate on particular details of the settings or balance problems here and there.
“So I think we benefit from each other in different ways and that’s a good thing at the moment.”