Alonso is hoping for a miracle in Singapore…
Fernando Alonso says that scoring points in the Singapore GP “will be a miracle” for his Aston Martin Formula 1 team.
Alonso still believes that the Silverstone outfit has only the seventh fastest car at the moment, with Haas and Williams having joined the top four in front.
Despite that he managed to finish sixth in Baku last weekend, having been running in eighth until the late Sainz/Perez crash.
Alonso says that the Azerbaijan result gave the team some motivation after a difficult season.
“I hope so, why not?,” he said when asked by this writer if Baku was a guide to this weekend’s form.
“I think the tracks are very different, but in a way both street circuits, no room to make a mistake, again the walls will be the limitation here.
“It’s probably the most demanding race physically of the championship. So to keep the level of focus very high throughout the race, and to start the weekend on the right foot, is quite important to start on Friday with a car that gives you the confidence to attack, and you can accumulate laps.
“It will just be beneficial for Saturday and Sunday. I’m quite optimistic after Baku. I think it was a boost of motivation for everyone. So I’m looking forward to jump in the car.”
However he cautioned that it won’t be easy to make Q3 or finish in the points.
“Well, as I said, we are seventh team, so our natural position is 13th, 14th, 15th,” he said. “If we were eighth in Baku, it was a miracle, if we were 10th in Monza, it was a miracle. If we are here in the points, it will be a miracle.
“I don’t think that the car at the moment is at the place where we want to have it. That’s why we keep working on the setup on Fridays, even though it’s not a setup issue, and we are waiting for new parts when they come.
“So we are not giving up. We are doing our best on the weekends. But every weekend, we cannot be with unrealistic hope, just because of the circuit, just because it may rain, just because… We need to be realistic and accept our position.”
Aston experimented with floor options in practice in Baku, before settling on an older version.
Asked if he wanted to carry on with what worked last weekend Alonso said the team would continue to try different things.
“Yes and no,” he said. £I think at the same time, you still want to experiment a little bit in FP1 in terms of setups, even if we were happier with the car in Baku than the last few events, we still want more. And Baku was not enough.
“The result was good, but we are still with our calculations the seventh team in terms of performance. And we are not happy there. So we still need to find more pace. And I know the team has more ideas for Friday FP1, and yeah, I’m willing to test those.”