Fernando Alonso was “very happy” to overcome Aston Martin’s ‘weaknesses’ during qualifying at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Throughout the practice, Aston Martin hovered on the fringes of the top-10 and with Williams and RB performing well in Marina Bay, both cars reaching Q3 would be a challenge.
However, Alonso dragged his car to seventh, taking advantage of a nightmare qualifying for both Ferraris.
Speaking to media after qualifying, including Motorsport Week, Alonso said seventh was quite a turnaround from the start of the weekend, highlighting that Singapore’s unique characteristics exposed the weaknesses of the AMR24.
“Yeah very happy with the performance,” Alonso said. “I think we’re struggling this weekend a lot. Some of the weaknesses of the car are concentrated around the Singapore track.
“We were P12 and P18 in FP3, didn’t look good at all, and in our simulations – as usual we rank the teams – and we were the seventh or eighth team, close to ninth, so things are not looking great at the moment.
“But it seems that in qualifying we tried to put the laps together, some others are making some mistakes here and there, and with some casualties we ended up a little bit ahead of what the pace should be.
“But let’s see tomorrow, no points are given on Saturdays, so we need to complete the job tomorrow.”
Tyres not a factor in poor performance
Tyre’s performance was once again a talking point after qualifying with Carlos Sainz criticising Pirelli following his high-profile Q3 crash.
When asked, Alonso denied that tyre performance was a factor behind Aston Martin’s struggles.
“No I think it’s just so complex now, I think these set-ups on the Formula 1 cars,” he said.
“Plus the traffic, the out laps, leaving the pit lane in the right position at the right time – there are so many factors that you need to put everything together to have a good lap in qualifying.
“You only have a certain amount of tries because of the new tyres you have available, so if you make one mistake you put a lot of pressure on the last tyre run and these kinds of things.
“If you meet one guy exiting Turn 1 or whatever, everything falls apart.
“We’ve been in the right place at the right time in the last few qualifyings, extremely important because it’s all about track position in Singapore, so we take it, but we are aware of our situation and the lack of pace is still in our heads.”
Alonso compensating for AMR24 deficiencies
Alonso also confirmed he is driving within himself to combat issues with the AMR24.
The Spaniard highlighted the efforts the team is going to to turn around its fortunes.
“Right now I am applying all the efforts to overcome a little bit the lack of pace,” he explained.
“A lot of work has been done between Baku and here. Yesterday we left the computer at 2 am and we have been increasing the work to find answers more than ever now.
“So we are putting everything into it, but we are finding that there are no miracles to be made here on track.
“We need help from the factory now in terms of development of the car, so looking forward to the next races.”
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