Fernando Alonso commented on his recent struggles with his Aston Martin AMR24, especially since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, admitting he lacked confidence with it.
The double Formula 1 Champion has scored points in ten grands prix out of 16 contested so far this season, but has never been able to fight at the front, as was the case in 2023, his best result being fifth place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Aston Martin and Alonso had a flying start to their previous season and finished on the podium eight times, but the team failed to develop the car properly and dropped down the order, and while they started with a slower car in 2024, their development this year did not go as planned as well as upgrade packages made the car slower.
Alonso played down external perceptions about his tough 2024 F1 season, and speaking to The Race, he said: "I'm not super happy with the season from myself - but I'm much more happy than what the people think about the season of Fernando.
"I don't know what the people expect sometimes - when the car is [as it is], we've been fighting with the midfield teams recently, and I still have good points," he added.
At some races this year, Lance Stroll has shown more pace than Alonso, which was never the case in 2023 as the latter almost always had the upper hand over his teammate.
Stroll doing a mega job, but still has half Alonso's points
The Spaniard pointed out the improved form of Stroll to prove his point that his own season is not as bad as some say; he continued: "I know people try to compare team-mates.
"Lance is doing a mega job this year, but as I said already last year, he had some specific issues with the car that he fixed this year.
"He was at the same [lap] time as [Sebastian] Vettel in the last year [2022]. And in 'one of my worst seasons' - [as it's being described] when I read sometimes some news - I have double [Lance's] points. I'm not sure how many drivers have double the points of their teammate in any of the teams on the grid.
"Except that, I think we are very close this year. Less than half a tenth, I would say, up and down for Lance and myself.
"I'm not totally confident with the car. And this is slowing me down sometimes. And I need to get better, I know that, and I will try in these 10 races," Alonso concluded.
With eight grands prix remaining this year, Alonso sits ninth in the F1 Drivers' Championship with 50 points.
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