Fernando Alonso has hailed Aston Martin’s F1 season as “unthinkable” given the strides taken in the space of a year, although still felt hurt at the way it subsided following a stunning start.
After finishing seventh in the constructors’ championship last year, Aston Martin caught everyone by surprise with its AMR23 which helped Alonso to score six podiums in the first eight races as the car proved to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull.
As Aston Martin attempted to build on its incredible beginning and further develop the car to remain in the podium hunt, wrong turns were taken, the pace fell away and the results faded.
There was an uptick in performance again towards the back end of the campaign as the team attempted to atone for its mistakes.
After the curtain fell on the campaign in Abu Dhabi, Alonso was left to reflect with amazement what had been achieved, which would be easy to overlook given how quickly it flew out of the traps.
“It has been a historical season for Aston Martin, and for myself, eight podiums, more than 200 points, nearly 300 for the team,” assessed Alonso. “Twelve months ago, this was unthinkable.
“This is the best season ever for the team as well, with whatever name they had before, so an incredible year to remember.
“The expectations were low, so we have exceeded expectations this year. Maybe next year it’s the opposite, the expectations will be very high, so we have some pressure on our shoulders.”
Two-time champion Alonso is no stranger to pressure given his occasionally glorious and extensive career and is ready to shoulder the burden of responsibility due to come his way, and that of the team, next year.
“This is Formula 1, not a charity event,” insisted Alonso. “We have to have the pressure to deliver.
“The fifth in the constructors’ (championship) hurts a little bit because I think we were better than that. We were hoping for better than that at the beginning of the year.
“In the drivers’, to finish fourth is completely unexpected, completely unreal, and to fight with the guys we were fighting.
“If you are fifth in the constructors’, normally you should be ninth and 10th in the drivers’, so it’s been a dream season for many people in Aston Martin, including myself.
“For me, 2012 and this season are the best in my career, a position I couldn’t ever have imagined at the beginning of the year with the car performance we had (from last year).”
The question now is whether Aston Martin’s emergence as a powerhouse at the start of the season was a one-off, or can it build on the foundations it has laid for itself this term.
“This is the first step of hopefully good progress in the team,” said Alonso.
“We always said this was year one of Aston Martin being competitive, a lot of changes in the team, the new factory, all of these things that we’ve been saying for a long time.
“So if next year we take a step backward that will be bad, so we need to keep moving forward.
“We finished fifth in the constructors’, but we need to improve on that next year – fourth, third, second, whatever will be welcome.
“And in my case, after eight podiums this year, hopefully, I can do something similar next.”
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