MADRID, 22 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish driver Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) has said that this Sunday in the Singapore Grand Prix, where he finished eighth, he has achieved “four more points” than he deserved for the performance of the car, and he has stressed that his “last two good performances” should not “cover up the lack of performance” that the team has.
“It’s four more points than we deserved here, because we’re not in this position at all,” he told DAZN. “In all the internal rankings we have, we’re seventh or eighth team, so we should have been fifteenth or sixteenth here, which is what we’re entitled to in terms of performance. I spoke to Nico Hulkenberg yesterday after the time trial and he told me that for them Williams is the fifth team. What’s certain is that we’re not the fifth team,” he added.
In this regard, he explained that having finished in the points in the last two races should not mask the team’s problems. “We have had two good performances in the last two circuits, but that cannot cover up the lack of performance we have. We are aware of this and we want to improve and see if we can do it in the next one,” he said.
“We need new parts, we need to find three or four tenths and we want to be back in the lead of the midfield. The team is doing everything possible, the drivers too when we have the car in good shape, and when we don’t have the car, like in these last few races, we have to keep fighting to get points. We’ll have to prepare physically for the end of the season, when there will be a lot of travelling and a lot of schedule changes. We’re fine, everyone is more tired than I am,” he joked.
The Spaniard recounted how the race went. “We had a good start, a good time trial, a good strategy, because we were behind Nico and we finished in front of him. Good management of the tyres, and of the brakes too, as we were a bit afraid of the brakes overheating, as there is no time to breathe here on this circuit. It was a very demanding race, both physically and mechanically, and seeing the chequered flag always means success. We are going into this mini-break with a good taste in our mouths,” he said.
He also believes that the fact that the safety car did not appear has “helped” them. “We had to push the whole race, which was very physical and also very hard on the tyres. In the first part we were behind Nico -Hulkenberg-, trying to put a little pressure on and then, stopping a few laps earlier, we managed to overtake him,” he stressed.
“It was a difficult race, both physically and for the tyres. We suffered a lot all weekend and I think that for the next races we have to raise the level if we want to get points. We got points in Baku and Singapore because they were two street circuits where we did a good time trial. Everything went well, but when we get to a normal circuit, with normal performance, we don’t have the pace to get points and we have to raise the level,” he said.
Finally, Alonso insisted that it was “difficult to overtake, as always on street circuits,” and it was all about seeing “who could keep the tyres in the best condition.” “It was the only way they could overtake you. If you had some tyres you could defend yourself and that was the game for the whole race, but they are also interesting races because they are very tactical, you have to know when to push and when not to stop. Today we undercut Nico four laps earlier and managed to overtake him, so I’m happy with the strategy,” he concluded.