Fernando Alonso has explained the ‘miraculous’ change made by Aston Martin that enabled him to get through to the final part of qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit.
The Aston Martin driver will start from P8 on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite finishing the morning practice session down in P15, after making a breakthrough in car setup overnight.
Alonso suffered from a difficult Friday practice, telling his team: “Worst car ever, and worst traffic preparation ever. Next time I will do the out-lap myself.”
It comes as Alonso suffers from the strain of a difficult season, with Aston Martin failing to recapture their form from 2023 when they achieved eight podiums and appeared as the second-best car to Red Bull.
Alonso is hopeful they can end their 2024 season on a high and has explained the changes they made to their car when speaking to Marca.com.
Fernando Alonso explains Aston Martin improvements led to Abu Dhabi top ten
Alonso was heard during FP3 telling his team that he thought it would be a “good day” indicating that the changes they made overnight had immediately made an impression.
The Spaniard explained that they went in a different setup direction, which eventually led to them unlocking a working ‘window’ with the AMR24.
“We have improved for qualifying. We have made many changes last night to the car and the truth is that it has not worked very well because in FP3 we were still 17th and 19th [fastest],” said Alonso.
“We made more changes before this night session and this time we have found a little window where the car is most happy, let’s say, the temperatures, the tyres, everything more in line and the car has revived a little and we have miraculously entered Q3.”
Lance Stroll ‘disappointed’ with Aston Martin’s upgrades
Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll will start the race from P13 on the grid, but has only scored 24 points so far this year in what has been one of his worst campaigns for the team.
The Canadian has not scored a single point in the last 10 rounds of F1, with Aston Martin currently sitting in no mans land in the Constructors’ Championship down in fifth place on 92 points.
| Team | Points |
| McLaren | 640 |
| Ferrari | 619 |
| Red Bull | 581 |
| Mercedes | 446 |
| Aston Martin | 92 |
Stroll has blamed Aston Martin’s failure to add any upgrades to their car and improve their package this year, with the team now using the same package in Abu Dhabi as they had in the Japanese GP.
This is after they used the US and Mexico Grands Prix as test sessions, where they did a back-to-back between Alonso and Stroll with their floor designs.
