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

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has asked Fernando Alonso to “hang on” as the team work on upgrades to get their F1 2024 campaign back on track.

After scoring a total of eight podium finishes in their first season together in F1 2023, Alonso and Aston Martin have struggled to hit the same heights so far this season.

Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin must ‘talk less, deliver more’

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Having fallen behind McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes over the last 12 months, the team have struggled to score points in recent weeks with Alonso finishing in the top 10 just once in the last four 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 team-mate Lance Stroll could only manage 12th and 14th respectively.

Alonso cut a frustrated figure after the race, telling media including PlanetF1.com that Aston Martin “deserved not to score any points” and declaring that “it’s time to work harder, to talk less, to deliver more.”

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While the team’s struggles are expected to continue in Austria and Britain, it is hoped that an upgrade to the AMR24 could arrive at next month’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the penultimate race before the summer break.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Barcelona, team principal Mike Krack admitted the busy run 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, leaving them with “no time” to focus on bringing improvements.

And he has urged Alonso to “hang on like this” until the team are in a position to address the car’s weaknesses.

He said: “That is one of the issues that you have. You now have five races in six weeks.

“We have had quite a lot of understanding after Monaco, Imola, and Canada as well – where we scored 14 points, by the way, with the same car – but it’s about fixing them. You have no time. That’s the main problem at the moment.

“So we have to hang on like this, get the best out of the car each weekend and bring these parts as quick as possible.”

Despite the team’s patchy record with upgrades over the last 12 months, with several updates failing to deliver as hoped, Alonso has spoken optimistically that the upcoming improvements will bring a step forward for Aston Martin.

Krack says the upgrade is looking “encouraging” on paper, with the team benefiting from a “better understanding” of the car’s required development direction.

He said: “I share his optimism, but I have to share the optimism.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s encouraging. We have clearly a better understanding than we had before. That is also what makes us confident looking forward.

“We will continue to bring parts as soon as they become ready, starting in the next races. So it is not [that] we should focus only on Budapest, but we should really try to improve as quick as possible.”