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Aston Martin’s message to Fernando Alonso after ‘talk less, deliver more’ demand

Aston Martin’s message to Fernando Alonso after ‘talk less, deliver more’ demand

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has urged Fernando Alonso to “hold on” as the team works on improvements to get its 2024 F1 campaign back on track.

Having scored a total of eight podiums in their first season together in F1 2023, Alonso and Aston Martin have struggled to reach the same heights so far this season.

Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin must “talk less, deliver more”

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

After falling behind McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes over the past 12 months, the team has struggled to score points in recent weeks, with Alonso only finishing in the top 10 once in the four last races and falling in Q1 in Emilia-Romagna and Monaco.

Aston Martin’s struggles continued at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, where Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll were only able to place 12th and 14th respectively.

Alonso appeared frustrated after the race, telling media outlets including PlanetF1.com that Aston Martin “didn’t deserve to score points” and declaring that “it’s time to work harder, talk less, talk less, ‘do more’.

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Although the team’s struggles are expected to continue in Austria and Britain, there are hopes that an AMR24 upgrade could arrive at next month’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the penultimate race before summer vacation.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Barcelona, ​​team principal Mike Krack admitted that the busy series of races leading up to the August break – including the current triple header and back-to-back races in Hungary and Belgium – is “the main problem”. for Aston Martin currently, which leaves them “no time” to focus on improvement.

And he urged Alonso to “hang in there like this” until the team was able to address the car’s weaknesses.

He said: “That’s one of the problems you have. You now have five races in six weeks.

“We had a lot of understanding after Monaco, Imola and Canada as well – where we actually scored 14 points with the same car – but it’s about repairing them. You do not have the time. This is the main problem at the moment.

“So we have to hang on like that, get the most out of the car every weekend and bring these parts in as quickly as possible.”

Despite the team’s patchy record on upgrades over the past 12 months, with several updates failing to deliver as hoped, Alonso said optimistically that the upcoming improvements would bring a step in before at Aston Martin.

Krack says the upgrade looks “encouraging” on paper, with the team benefiting from a “better understanding” of the development direction required for the car.

He said: “I share his optimism, but I must share this optimism.

“From what I have seen, it is encouraging. We clearly have a better understanding than before. This is also what makes us confident for the future.

“We will continue to bring parts as soon as they are ready, from the next races. So it is not just about focusing on Budapest, but we should definitely try to improve as quickly as possible.

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