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Aston Martin is “ready for the challenge” in Suzuka following a trying weekend for the team in Singapore.
Alonso finished the Singapore Grand Prix sans points. (Image credit: Aston Martin F1 Team)The Silverstone-based team were one man down in Singapore, after Lance Stroll suffered a heavy-impact crash during qualifying. Stroll walked away from the crash, but sat out of the remainder of the race weekend.
There was not much joy to be found for Aston Martin on-track, either. Although Fernando Alonso qualified P7, his efforts within the race were met with no reward. The 42-year-old received a five-second penalty for crossing the white line on pit entry. He served the penalty on Lap45, where insult was added to injury, as a botched pitstop made recovery harder for the Spaniard. The two factors combined saw Alonso drop down to a disheartening P17.
Eventually, the Spaniard clawed back two positions to finish 15th. But with Mercedes landing a podium, and Ferrari taking the race win, Aston Martin now finds itself fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Higher hopes in Suzuka
Speaking to F1 ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso doesn’t seem deterred by tricky weekend prior. The Spaniard shared that revelations made about the team’s performance in Japan “explained” the lack of results.
“Obviously it [Singapore] was a tough one,” Alonso said. “We had some high hopes, but yeah, the race was a bit… everything [went] wrong for us, and we discovered some damage on the car from lap two, already we had that damage. So that is explained a little bit the performance on the race.”
“So I’m more confident into this weekend after knowing that,” he continued. “And yeah, hopefully we are fast again.”
The Aston Martin driver shared that he is looking forward to the race, adding that he is “absolutely” ready to take to the track. “It’s my favourite circuit of the calendar, one of the best fans as well of the calendar when we come here and we feel all the support,” he said.
Alonso added, “So it is a special race. We want to deliver something special and I think everyone in Aston Martin is ready for the challenge.”
Featured Image Credit: La Sexta
