Fernando Alonso is one day away from turning 43. And as the oldest driver on the grid, he is also the most experienced with 394 race starts under his belt. However, the Spaniard recently said that he would happily trade his experience if he could get what he actually needs, which is a fast car.
During the build-up to the Belgian Grand Prix, Formula 1 presenter Will Buxton praised Alonso for a decent qualifying performance under tricky wet conditions on Saturday. Buxton then asked Alonso how much of a role his experience plays in getting such results.
In reply, the 42-year-old said that he would trade his experience for a one-second faster car every single time. “Yeah obviously,” Alonso agreed that experience does help. He then added,
“When you have a wet qualifying and a dry race, everything has to be improvised a little bit and experience always helps. But I prefer to have a one-second faster car than experience, to be honest.”
Fernando Alonso: “Prefiero tener un coche 1 segundo más rápido a tener experiencia”
“A ver si podemos sumar puntos e irnos al parón veraniego con una sonrisa”.#F1 #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/2wSQMxPctl
— Fórmula Directa (@FormulaDirecta) July 28, 2024
The Belgian GP always promises to be an entertaining race because there is always a threat of mixed conditions throughout the weekend. Therefore, driver experience is always key at Spa. And Alonso once again showed on Saturday that he is still exceptional in wet conditions.
Despite Aston Martin not having the pace, Alonso was able to make it through to Q3 on pure driver skill and secured P8 for the start of the race. His teammate Lance Stroll, on the other hand, could only qualify in P15.
Can Aston Martin get back to fighting for podiums?
The Silverstone-based team had a great start to the 2023 season. Having finished seventh in the Constructors’ Standings in 2022, Aston Martin emerged as Red Bull’s closest competitor in 2023. Alonso made the most of this improvement by Aston Martin as he extracted the most out of the car and claimed multiple podiums at the start of the year.
But as the season progressed, Aston Martin fell behind in the development battle. And the team is still struggling to get towards the front of the grid. Now, with Alonso having signed a multi-year extension with the team at least till the end of 2026, he would be hoping that the car would become competitive sooner rather than later.
Fernando Alonso has renewed his contract with Aston Martin, but will it really be his last? #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/YCQc4wNESf
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 18, 2024
Moreover, the team is also desperate to come out of this slump and they are strengthening their workforce by making some high-profile hirings such as Enrico Cardile, who will leave his position as the technical director at Ferrari to join Aston Martin in 2025.
The team is also reportedly chasing to secure the services of legendary F1 car designer Adrian Newey, who will leave Red Bull in early 2025.
