Alonso: Aston can’t wait on Newey to improve

SINGAPORE — Fernando Alonso has urged Aston Martin not to get distracted by 2026 and the arrival of Adrian Newey, calling on the team to “shake things up a little bit” to improve its current car.

Formula 1 design legend Newey will join Aston Martin in March next year, primarily to focus on designing a car for the sport’s next rule change.

Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll has invested heavily to ensure his team become title contenders under that rule change, with Newey the biggest name on a long list of significant hires on the technical side which includes Enrico Cardile from Ferrari.

But Alonso is not satisfied with where the team is currently and has called on improvements in the short term.

“I think 2026 is in our heads for everyone at Aston, and the biggest hope with Adrián coming, and Enrico, and some of the names,” Alonso said after qualifying in Singapore.

“So this is going to be great, and the future looks bright but 2025 we need to shake things a little bit. It’s not good enough what we’re doing right now and in 2025 we need to change the pace.”

Alonso qualified eighth for Sunday’s race.

Despite the strong performance and Q3 appearance, Alonso did not feel like the outcome reflected how Aston’s car has felt this week.

“Very happy with the performance,” Alonso said. “I think we’re struggling this weekend a lot. Some of the weaknesses of the car are concentrated around the Singapore track.

“We were P12 and P18 in FP3, didn’t look good at all, and in our simulations — as usual we rank the teams — and we were the seventh or eighth team, close to ninth, so things are not looking great at the moment.”

During Friday practice, an amusing radio exchange took place after Alonso saved his car from a spin.

Immediately afterwards, his race engineer asked him if he had intended to push a button signalling he was going to come into the pits.

Alonso said he had to push all the buttons on his steering wheel “to stop this car from crashing.”

When asked if he’s utilising all of his driving talent to get the best out of the car right now, he replied: “100%. Right now I am applying all the efforts to overcome a little bit the lack of pace. A lot of work has been done between Baku and here.

“Yesterday we left the computer at 2 a.m. and we have been increasing the work to find answers more than ever now.

“So we are putting everything into it, but we are finding that there are no miracles to be made here on track and we need help from the factory now in terms of development of the car, so looking forward to the next races.”