Fernando Alonso in ‘pain’ with Aston Martin ‘getting worse’ amid Alpine F1 2024 revival

Fernando Alonso will continue with Aston Martin in 2025

Fernando Alonso has admitted Aston Martin are “getting worse” as the F1 2024 season progresses, with the revival of his former employers Alpine making for a “not great combination.”

Alonso enjoyed a fine first season with Aston Martin in F1 2023, claiming eight podium finishes in his most productive campaign since his final year as a Ferrari driver in 2013.

Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin ‘getting worse’ as Alpine improve

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

With McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all jumping ahead of the team in the race to catch Red Bull, however, Aston Martin have struggled to hit the same heights in F1 2024.

Alonso has scored just 10 points across the last four races, with the two-time World Champion falling in Q1 in Emilia Romagna and Monaco last month.

Aston Martin endured another challenging day in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Alonso only 11th and team-mate Lance Stroll in 14th.

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Alonso is poised to start Sunday’s race from 10th on the grid, with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez serving a three-place grid penalty.

Despite failing to reach Q3 at his home race, Alonso declared himself “happy” with 11th after Aston Martin’s qualifying simulations had predicted a worse result.

He told media including PlanetF1.com: “I’m happy with the result, even if it’s painful to say in front of the home grandstands. Before qualifying, our predictions were a little bit more pessimistic.

“With one car, we even opted to go for three sets in Q1, which is a sign that you are not very confident.

“And all in all, I think to start P11 – or P10 with Checo’s penalty – is a good result and hopefully tomorrow we are just one position away from the points.”

Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were classified seventh and ninth respectively in qualifying as the Enstone-based team – who announced the return of controversial former team principal Flavio Briatore in an advisory role on Friday – continued their recovery from a poor start to the F1 2024 season.

Despite winning both of his World Championships with Team Enstone back in 2005/06 – and returning to F1 with the team after a two-year sabbatical in 2021 – Alonso aimed a series of barbs at his former employers last season, at one stage accusing the team of a “lack of professionalism” during contract negotiations in 2022.

Asked if it is worrying that Alpine now appear to have overtaken Aston Martin in the pecking order, Alonso laughed as he commented that his current team are “probably getting worse” as Alpine are “getting better.”

And with races to come on the next two weekends in Austria and Britain, the 42-year-old predicted that Aston Martin’s pain is likely to continue as the summer break approaches.

He said: “I think we knew. Alpine was in front of us in Monaco, was very close in Canada and here they are just half a tenth in front.

“So they’re getting better and we are getting worse probably, so the combination of the two is not great!

“But I think, as I’ve said many times, we have some things in the pipeline that should put us back in the right direction.

“It’s going to be painful here. It’s going to be painful in Austria, in Silverstone.

“We have to keep scoring points if it’s seventh, eighth, ninth, whatever. We cannot give up and [must] stay positive in these tough times.”

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