2025, not 2024, should be Aston Martin’s focus

Fernando Alonso thinks Aston Martin should tweak its goals for the remaining ten races of the 2024 season.

This year, after a highly promising 2023, the Silverstone based team – and its 43-year-old top Spanish driver – has taken a major step backwards.

“It’s been up and down,” Alonso said at Zandvoort, also admitting some of the blame. “I’m not super happy with my season. But I’m a lot happier than people think.

“I don’t know what people expect sometimes when the car is fighting with the midfield teams and I still score good points. Lance (Stroll) is doing an incredible job this year, but when I read some news, that it is one of my worst seasons, I have twice as many points as him,” Alonso added.

Aston Martin arrives at the Dutch GP fifth in the constructors’ standings – but a long way behind Mercedes and with more than double the points tally of RB.

“The target is, what, ninth and tenth in every race?” Alonso said. “That’s what we’ve striving for. The top four are 30 to 45 seconds ahead of us in every race.

“To be in the top eight we need a retirement from the cars ahead. So these are the targets but we have a lot to test, a lot of ideas on the car that we want to try in preparation for next year’s car,” he continued.

“So what will be my biggest motivation or my biggest concern for the last ten races – to have a good understanding of many of the unknowns we have and finish the season with a clear idea. It doesn’t matter if we are in the points or not, but we need to make sure we start on the right path next year.”

Meanwhile, speculation is now hardening that Adrian Newey will almost certainly be heading to Aston Martin once his Red Bull duties conclude early next year.

Alonso was asked by Spanish reporters ahead of the Dutch GP if he is confident Newey will also be wearing green in 2025 and beyond.

“I have the same confidence as when I woke up in Monaco one day and they said there was a press conference at 12 o’clock announcing that he is joining Ferrari,” Alonso smiled.

“I mean, they are all rumours, and we have so many things and so many problems to solve to get performance out of the car that we cannot be distracted every weekend by where everyone is going to be.”