Despite the setback in recent races, Fernando Alonso looks back on the past F1 season with a good feeling. At the start of the season Aston Martin was the big surprise, but during the second half of the season Aston Martin fell back to fifth place in the championship.
“I only see positive points,” Alonso looked back on the past season and the two-time F1 champion explains the setback that Aston Martin has experienced in recent races. “Those issues are part of the job and I am part of the journey that this team is on.”
“I think we started very strongly with the car and we were amazingly competitive, even we were surprised at the step forward we made compared to last year.”
“We were perhaps in a position where we weren’t ready to compete with Mercedes and Ferrari, the top teams that are used to competing at that level.”
“We may have taken a step back in terms of the development of the car during the season, but we are not yet at the top in that area. That made us a little less competitive.”
“But overall, I think it would have been unthinkable 12 months ago that we would have had a season like this at this point. I still remember last year’s test here in Abu Dhabi after the race weekend. If anyone had told me then that we would be in this position today, I wouldn’t have believed it.”