F1 News: Fernando Alonso believes the return of the Sprint format to this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix will hamper Aston Martin’s overall competitiveness.
The Silverstone-based team have had a spectacular start to the year, with Fernando Alonso securing six podiums in the first eight races since his winter switch.
After a disappointing weekend in Spain, Aston Martin bounced back in Canada after a major AMR23 upgrade saw Alonso finish second.
However, the former two-time Formula 1 champion believes that with just one practice session this weekend, it will have a big impact on the time teams need to learn the car.
“Yes, Austria, let’s see. I don’t think the Sprint weekend will be ideal for us,” he admitted. “We have even more time available for free practice with our new improved car.
“We still need to understand a bit and optimize the new settings and in Austria, obviously with the sprints, we only have FP1 to do that. But yes, that’s how it is.”
Since the return of the Austrian GP to the F1 calendar in 2014, Alonso’s best result at the venue has been fifth place in his final year at the wheel of Ferrari.
The Oviedo-born racer suffered mixed results on the circuit over the next few years, racking up three unsuccessful finishes before picking up a point on each of his last four visits.
Alonso was able to come back from a low starting position of 19th to take a point from Valtteri Bottas in last year’s race.
Article Tags: fernando alonso, f1, aston martin
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