Fernando Alonso has won three times at Spa. one in Formula 3000 (2000) and two in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota. But he has never done it in F1 and the year he was closest to achieving it, in 2005, chasing Michael Schumacher, an oil leak in his R23 made him spin around the Raidillon. At other times, like 2012, I had a car to try it, but grosjean he ran over him on the way out. AND since 2014, any attempt to show off has been futile for the cars he has counted on.
In theory, the circuit of the Ardennes It is not a good scenario for the AMR23, but everything is changing in terms of performance and maybe it will not be so bad like it’s supposed to The Oviedo rider trusts in that, who also expects rain on Friday and Saturday, which in a Sprint format can change things. “We didn’t have the easiest weekend in Budapest and the ninth was the best on Sunday with three points in total for the team. Belgium comes now and we have had a few days to analyze everything from Hungary. It’s a very different challenge here, because of the high-speed nature of this circuit and I’ve always loved racing at Spa. It’s a challenge we’re waiting for,” He points out before facing the first day, which can be almost winter with the Qualification for the grid on Sunday at stake.
No improvements in Belgium
It was rumored on Thursday morning that They could advance a part of the improvements planned for Zandvoort, but this is not the case. They will continue with the same car from Hungary, with specific adaptations For high-speed, low-temperature scribing.
“We are looking forward to racing and hopefully we can bounce back this weekend with a good result. It’s another weekend of Sprint here, so we only have one practice session before qualifying to optimize everything, which is a test for all teams, especially with mixed weather, waiting for the weather forecast. I’m looking forward to getting back in the AMR23 cockpit as soon after Budapest”, he says as a way of overcoming the performance dip of the last month and breaking the bets in Belgium.
Few sessions for the Sprint
The Sprint format will not help them, because “now we would need several sessions to test some things”, he says, in what appears to be an improvement in tire behaviour, which Aston Martin hasn’t achieved like other teams yet. “But it’s the same for everyone and there may be some surprises. Maybe a little bit of rain would be better for us this weekend than if it were a race with a normal, dry format. We’ll see…”, says the Asturian about this weekend, the last before the break and another consignment of new parts for his car arrives in the Netherlands, at the end of August.
“We have lost performance in the last two races and we are trying to understand why.. We knew in Bahrain and Jeddah that there would be ups and downs and that difficulties would come and maybe we are in one of these moments.. That can happen over the course of 22 races and we are trying,” Fernando acknowledged to the press at Spa.
“Us we are at the lowest point and we will rise again and others who are at their peak will have a downturn almost sure. In 22 races everything happens and we will go up again”, he says with the hope that the situation will change.
Mid-year changes
Regarding the tires, he still does not know the real incidence, but he stresses that “now we have more slip and more understeer. We don’t know if it’s the car, or it’s our choices in terms of set-up at these circuits. I don’t know if our rivals have achieved very strong cars at the moment or if the wheels have made them maximize their performance,” he says.
“The rules have changed in the middle of the year and we haven’t gotten the right adaptation to the new construction of these tyres, so we need to do better. I don’t think it’s a particular characteristic of these wheels, it’s that we are slower with them”points out about the new Pirelli, without yet knowing the impact it is having on the current distribution of forces.
“Don’t have all the information Pirelli has, but I’m not a fan of changing tires or rules in the middle of the season,” insists on something that does not happen in any sport. “but VIt has been several years with other things, such as the flexibility of the ailerons, the height to the ground or the exhausts. It should not be like that, because if a team has found something better, they should be able to end the year like this and if it weren’t legal, they couldn’t have run the first 10 races with those parts, as happened last year with Red Bull,” he argues.
