Fernando Alonso He had to settle for seventh place in the classification of Singapore Grand Prix. He has not had the speed to fight one lap with the Ferraris and the Mercedes and also Norris (McLaren) and even Magnussen (Haas) have surpassed him in the decisive Q3. Realistically, the Asturian assumes that this weekend his Aston Martin can’t do much more and regrets not being able to take advantage of the first opportunity of the season to break Red Bull’s dominance, after the elimination of Verstappen and Pérez in Q2.
(Check the general classification of the F1 World Championship)
“The truth is that we suffered today… in free practice 3 we were not comfortable. We made some changes to the car for qualifying and everything improved, so I am very happy with my return. I spoke to the engineer and I told him, “if you leave me here all night wandering around, I don’t think I’ll do it again.” So, look, the position is what it is, we have to accept that we are not as strong as other teams. But the truth is that with the return I am very happy and eager to try to get something tomorrow,” Alonso said.
“Red Bull looks like it’s going to limp this weekend. And Unfortunately we are not going to be the ones who go fishing.… after having been behind them all year, in the very race they failed, we are not there to take advantage of it,” lamented Fernando. “We said it many times, that we had to be there, and it coincides that at this weekend week we are not there. But this is like the Tour de France, there are 22 races, not just one,” he clarified.
“When we came to Singapore we thought that the circuit could suit our car, but during free practice we already understood that entering Q3 would be enough. The lap was one of the best on my part in qualifying this year, in my opinion. There was no more left”, has acknowledged before the Spanish media, taking a dig at Aston Martin: “When you see the improvements that rivals bring to the circuits, we see that we as a team lack development between races. “It is an important year for Aston Martin, but we have to learn and grow.”
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Alonso is clear about his main objective this Sunday: “We must cover Lewis Hamilton, who is only six points away in the World Cup“ . The two-time Spanish champion especially enjoys the fight with the seven-time British champion and remarks that “we are doing well during the year, we have Hamilton right in front of us on the grid, who is behind us in the championship, so that is my priority objective. Try to stay in front of him and, if we stay behind him, not lose many points,” he says.