Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso gave Paddock Magazine a candid assessment of Aston Martin’s chances. The two-time World Champion admitted that breaking into the top ten would be extremely difficult and explained one of the technical issues the team was working to address. A few days later, however, Monaco delivered a small reward, as Alonso was promoted to tenth place after the race to score Aston Martin’s first point of the season.
Despite Aston Martin’s state-of-the-art Silverstone facility, Honda’s arrival and the signing of Adrian Newey, the team has endured a difficult start to the season. Speaking in Monaco before the weekend got underway, Alonso offered a realistic assessment of where the team stood.
What would you consider a satisfying result this weekend?
Fernando Alonso: Difficult to tell. I think, looking at the first races, I would say that there is no chance to score points because I think the top ten cars and the top five teams are quite well ahead of everyone else.
If one of the teams doesn’t perform well that weekend, there is always somebody else doing very well. Haas was very strong in China, and other teams have had weekends where they suddenly become very competitive. To be in the top ten is very difficult and very hard, but we will try to have the best weekend possible.
There are a couple of things on the car that have to be improved, and Monaco will be a good test for them. One will be the gearbox.
We started with some changes in Miami, and Monaco is not a place where you can make a random downshift, rear-lock, or unexpected engine push, because then you will crash into a wall, and the driver will look stupid. But sometimes you are just a passenger.
When you put one gear down and suddenly have a push from the engine, especially on a street circuit, there is not much you can do about it. That is the thing we need to make sure we improve. Monaco will tell the truth and, hopefully, show that we are taking a step in the right direction ahead of Canada.
At the time, Alonso’s prediction appeared entirely reasonable. Yet Monaco has always rewarded precision and experience, and few drivers possess more of either than the Spaniard. While Aston Martin’s pace remained limited, Alonso extracted everything available from the package. Although he initially finished outside the points, a post-race penalty for Sergio Perez promoted him to tenth place, earning his first point of the season.
It was only a single point, but it also underlined a quality that has defined Alonso’s career for more than two decades: even when the odds appear stacked against him, he still finds a way to maximise the opportunity in front of him.
