Fernando Alonso says his unexpected Q3 performance in the Qatar Grand Prix shows why he was right never to doubt himself amid Aston Martin’s recent struggles.
The Spaniard, who is Formula 1’s oldest driver, has endured a challenging run of races off the back of his squad’s backward step with a new floor that arrived at the United States Grand Prix.
Its difficulties have left it as the eighth or ninth fastest team at times, with concerns it could even slip behind the Sauber squad that has recently delivered a step forward with a new floor.
But after a stronger-than-expected performance for Aston Martin in Qatar compared to recent outings, Alonso says that the result is proof that recent difficulties have been more about the car than the driving.
“Obviously you need to feel competitive from time to time, and I don't have doubts about myself,” he said.
“I'm probably overconfident in my abilities [rather] than needing a result. But, yeah, it's good to have a good result, and I guess for the team as well, that they can still trust when we are competitive.
“The car is responding well, when we are not competitive and fighting for Q1 it's not that I became slow from day to night. It's that the car is struggling, really. So our comments have to be trusted.”
Alonso said there was no obvious explanation as to why Aston Martin had unleashed more pace in qualifying at Qatar, but suspects it could be something to do with the AMR24 being better suited to the soft tyres.
“It was unexpected, totally unexpected,” he said. “We've been struggling for the last four or five months. Even [getting] out of Q1 is a challenge now.
“And this weekend we seem a little bit more competitive, but especially now in tonight's qualifying, I think we did some set-up changes since the sprint race, and I think the car was better now. Also, the red tyre did help the overall grip of the car.
“[In sprint qualifying], we were not obviously, we were eliminated, and we only tried the medium in SQ1, SQ2. So I think in quali, with the red tyre, you know, straight from Q1 we were competitive.”
Aston Martin has been trying to get to the bottom of why it has not made progress with its car this season and has been experimenting with floor philosophies in a bid to help its understanding.
The Budapest-concept floor it is using in Qatar is better suited to Losail’s high-speed demands, and Alonso thinks it was essential for the squad to show at least some signs of promise before the end of the campaign.
“It does help for sure because the team is never stopping working, even when we are starting from the back,” he said.
“There are a lot of studies, a lot of learning, and a lot of lessons that we are taking.
“After the [sprint] race, we were more competitive than previous grand prix, but not in a happy place. We were struggling with the low-speed understeer, high-speed oversteer.
“So the car was not really together in terms of low to high speed. So we made some set-up changes.
“Now the car was better. It shows that there is always a constant work in searching for performance.
“If you are fighting for podium or if you are fighting for going out of Q1, I think the team is always motivated. So it's not that we need the result to boost everyone, but it will always help to be competitive from time to time.”
