F1 News: Aston Martin must improve before Newey arrives – Alonso

(GMM) Aston Martin must up its game next year ahead of the arrival of Adrian Newey, the team’s lead driver Fernando Alonso insists.

The Spaniard and former two-time champion enjoyed a series of podiums in his green car last year, but Aston Martin’s progress subsequently stalled.

That is despite the fact that Red Bull technical genius Adrian Newey has been successfully lured to the Silverstone based team by owner Lawrence Stroll for early 2025 and beyond.

Newey’s first Aston Martin will be the 2026 car for the all-new regulations.

“I think 2026 is in our heads for everyone at Aston,” Alonso, 43, told DAZN. “The biggest hope is the arrival of Adrian Newey, Enrico Cardile and a few other names.

“This is going to be great and the future looks bright, but what we are doing now is not good enough. We have to change the pace in 2025,” he insisted.

“I’m currently putting all my effort in to overcome the lack of pace we have,” said Alonso. “A lot of work was done between Baku and Singapore. After practice we left the computers at two in the morning.

“We have increased the workload to find answers more than ever before.”

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack declared in Singapore that key updates will be added to the 2024 package in Austin next time out.

“Unfortunately, updates haven’t worked as they should,” he admitted. “And the others are improving their cars more than we are. It’s pretty simple.”

Alonso concluded: “We are putting all our effort into it, but we are realizing that miracles cannot be worked here on the track, and we need the help of the factory in terms of developing the car.”