Fernando Alonso had mixed feelings about Aston Martin‘s latest car upgrades after an eighth-place result in qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
Alonso had a day to forget on Friday, finishing in 18th place in the Sprint after starting from 14th on the grid.
The Spaniard admitted the team decided to treat the Sprint like a practice session to understand the upgraded AMR24 and reaped the rewards from its findings the following day.
Alonso made his way into Saturday’s Q3 top-10 shootout, but the two-time World Champion wasn’t fully convinced that the Aston Martin car was performing at its best.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week, he said: “In the corners, the straights, we are more or less flat out, always, so yeah, I think we experimented a little bit with the set-up.
“[Friday] after FP1, we made further changes now before qualifying, so it seems that the car is performing a little bit better now, which is encouraging.
“But it’s still a challenging car to drive and to strike the maximum, so I think we still have to work a little bit more towards Mexico.
“Always the same thing when you bring upgrades to a Sprint weekend, there is a little bit of not optimising everything and I think it’s the same for everybody.
“But we need to find a better window in Mexico for sure.”
Alonso says he is ‘more or less happy’ with progress
Alonso’s team-mate, Lance Stroll, faired better in the Sprint after finishing in 13th place, but the Canadian could only make Q2 in the main qualifying session.
Aston Martin’s form has been up and down all season, as the last time the team collectively scored double figures in points was at the British Grand Prix.
When asked if the car felt better this weekend so far, Alonso added: “It was difficult, I think track to track it keeps changing.
“I think here, especially with the new asphalt, it feels very grippy and feels good.
“In some of the old patches it feels a little bit more tricky, it’s bumpy, very bumpy in the first sector, so it’s not a comfortable lap, let’s say with the bumps and the change of grip level.
“But I’m more or less happy with today’s performance, [after] all the changes after the sprint.
“But three hours ago we were not very happy with the Sprint Race, so I think we have to wait for tomorrow.
“Some very fast cars behind us, [Sergio] Perez, P10, the two Haas’ that were very fast this morning, Lewis [Hamilton] as well coming from behind.
“So I think the points are a little bit more challenging than normal tomorrow and let’s make some conclusions after three or four Grands Prix.”
Andy Cowell attends first Grand Prix for Aston Martin
Former Mercedes guru Andy Cowell, Aston Martin’s new Group Chief Executive Officer, was in attendance with the team after arriving at the start of this month.
When asked about his involvement this weekend, Alonso replied: “[It’s] very important.
“I think he’s very clever, he’s our leader now and I think he has to spend some time in the factory, trying to get up to speed and see our organisation and now here on track as well.
“So he can obviously help us to get better in the future and we are trying to help him as much as we can to shortcut any learning period that he has to do.”
READ MORE: Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson clash over F1 US GP Sprint battle
