42-year-old F1 driver admits he was worried about his team’s pace before Interlagos

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Fernando Alonso has admitted he was concerned about the pace of his Aston Martin car in the build-up to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The Spanish legend was speaking, via SpeedCafe, about his team’s recent difficulties.

Aston Martin had one of their worst races of the season in Mexico City, with Fernando Alonso well off the pace before retiring.

Lance Stroll started from the pit lane and started to make his way through the pack before a shunt with Valtteri Bottas ended his race too.

It was such a bad weekend that there were discussions about Alonso retiring or even replacing the under-pressure Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

However, their fortunes could not have been more different at Interlagos the following week.

Alonso made a triumphant return to the podium, fighting off Perez on the final laps to cross the line milliseconds ahead of him.

Stroll also came home in fifth, recording one of his best results of the season.

Aston Martin’s pace in the second half of the season had concerned Alonso, but his top-three finish in Brazil has given him a renewed sense of confidence.

Team principal Mike Krack has been praised for his running of the team and how he’s kept spirits high during a difficult second half of the year.

The hope will now be that they can return to challenging Red Bull for race wins and podiums next year.

Alonso was concerned with Aston Martin’s pace

Speaking about the difficulties his team have faced, Alonso said: “We’ve been struggling for a few months.

“The last two races (US and Mexico) were probably quite painful.

“We had to experiment a little bit with a few things on the car to really understand the direction we were going, and we have to go for next year’s car as well. So those races were painful, especially Mexico. We were very slow as a team.

“It was nice to see everyone in the team very focused, determined, united in the same direction, going deep into the analysis and coming back stronger in Interlagos.

“I was a little bit concerned, no doubt, for the last few races, the final part of the championship, but now I cannot wait to go to Vegas. So it’s a very different energy when you have a performing car.”

The £84,000-a-week driver is extremely experienced and would have been essential to helping the team troubleshoot the issues they’ve had with their new upgrades.

It’s hard to imagine him giving up his dream of winning another Formula 1 race having now waited 10 years and counting to stand on the top step of the podium.

If Alonso was concerned that Aston Martin would never be able to deliver that sort of car, then he wouldn’t persist with the team.

However, they’ll have another go in 2024 with some teams already trying to jump the gun and prepare their machines for next season.