01/11/2023
NEWS STORY
Fernando Alonso admits that for Aston Martin the remaining races will be about learning for 2024, not defending its position in the team standings.
The Spaniard was speaking in the wake of his second successive retirement of the season, having previously enjoyed, along with Max Verstappen, a 100% finishing record.
The successive podiums a distant memory, other than Zandvoort ever since the summer break the Silverstone-based outfit has struggled.
While its rivals regularly introduced upgrades Aston Martin held back and when it did introduce new parts, as at COTA, it was either at the wrong time or they were not up to the task.
Having lost out to Mercedes, Ferrari and then McLaren followed, and other than the successive retirements Alonso hasn't even made it into Q3 at the last two outings.
With fifth in the standings secure, Alonso admits that challenging McLaren for fourth is out of the question as his team prefers to use the remaining races to prepare for next season.
"Honestly, we are not fighting for anything," he said, according to Motorsport.com. "We will learn, even if we have to start from the pitlane, and you know that is more useful than just spending the weekend.
"In the team championship, we are locked in in the position we are," he continued. "In the drivers' championship, we will lose a couple of places.
"It is incredible that we are in front of Ferraris, or George or Lando or whatever," he insisted, "but we will lose those positions. They have a very fast car... and yet, let's see what we can do."
Ever the Samurai however, the wily old fighter hasn't given up entirely... he never will.
"We are working as much as we can," he said. "It's not that we are just happy with the situation. It's not the position we wish we were, but at the same time, we are working very hard to reverse the situation.
"Sometimes you learn more from the difficulties than from the celebrations," he added. "So right now we have a difficult time. We are trying to do as many tests as possible, giving as much feedback as possible to the factory in Silverstone. And hopefully, as I said, finish on a high, and not on a low."
Despite the fighting talk however, the Spaniard isn't expecting any further visits to the podium this year.
"We still need to go to three different places, three different circuits, which will give us more data again on the car. It depends on what we call finish on a high. If we think that we will fight for podiums or something like that? I don't think so. But to finish in a competitive way, I think we still have the possibility."