Chaos continues to ensue before racing begins in the 2024 F1 season, with fans hoping they get a taste of the same throughout the year. Ahead of the first official event of the latest season, Fernando Alonso grabs the headlines. Before the pre-season testing could begin, Sports Illustrated quoted Alonso, who is unhappy with the regulations around the testing.
“I’ve been thinking all winter about this. How unfair is [it] that we have one day and a half to prepare for a world championship.”
Scheduled from the 21st to the 23rd of February, pre-season testing will have two sessions each day. Each session will be four hours long. The issue arises with the fact that each team only has one car available for testing. Hence, the drivers will have to share the car. One driver will drive in the morning session, while the other driver shall take up the afternoon slot.
: Line-up for the day 1 of F1 preseason testing
Red Bull: Verstappen
Merc: Russell
Ferrari: Leclerc/Sainz
McLaren: Piastri/Norris
Aston Martin: Alonso/Stroll
Alpine: Ocon/Gasly
Williams: Albon/Sargeant
RB: Tsunoda/Ricciardo
Stake: Bottas/Zhou
Haas: Magnussen/Hulkenberg#F1 pic.twitter.com/W3Yy9eA9vW— Motorsport 24 (@Motorsport24NA) February 21, 2024
Alonso has a workaround for the situation. He believes F1 should extend the testing to four days. This will give drivers enough time to familiarize themselves with the car. The Spaniard gave another choice. He claimed if timings were an issue, giving the teams two cars to test the tracks would also beneficial. Two drivers testing two cars for two days would be a better option according to Alonso.
The need for a longer practice session also arises from a lengthy F1 season. All set for a record-breaking season, the F1 season boasts of 24 races on the calendar. Keeping the same in mind, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez feels there was no room to accommodate a longer testing window. However, 42-year-old Alonso misses the old times when there were no limitations to testing an F1 car.
With Fernando Alonso at the helm, Aston Martin hoping to not repeat their mistakes
Having started the 2023 season on an unpredicted high, Aston Martin soon lost their rhythm and fell behind in the development race. A mid-season slump hit them, allowing others to catch up. However, the team showed grit and determination to become a competitive outfit by the end of the season. Heading into the 2024 season, Alonso believes his team won’t make the same mistakes again.
️| Fernando Alonso on the weaknesses of the AMR23 and what the AMR24 needs to do better:
“We need more consistency. One of the weaknesses is that the car works in a very small range, it would be nice if we had a more stable level, it was a consequence of developing the car,… pic.twitter.com/opmh5YTHPh
— Aston Martin Formula 1 News (@AMF1News) November 28, 2023
With a new challenger ready for the tracks, Alonso is confident in the developments made by Aston Martin. He revealed the team did a lot of experiments and went back and forth to understand last year’s problems. They understood the things they needed to improve this year and hope to see positive results. He also expressed confidence in the team’s overall improvements throughout the winter break. Compared to last year’s car, Alonso is much more confident in the baseline of the AMR24.
