"We still miss two or three tenths": Fernando Alonso issues verdict on where Aston Martin finds itself compared to McLaren and Mercedes

After sealing a season-best finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso has given his take on AMR24's race pace as he drew parallels with McLaren and Mercedes.

The AMR24s managed to score points by a whisker as they ventured into the 2024 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain GP. Fernando Alonso fielded his #14 car, coming home with a P9 finish and scoring two points, whereas his teammate, Lance Stroll, settled for P10 and collected a single point.

However, the next race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit saw Alonso's car giving a tough time to the rivals. Stroll suffered a premature exit from the race as he crashed his ride into the wall. Nevertheless, the #14 car finished P5, ahead of both the Mercedes and the Ferrari, tamed by the F1 debutant, Oliver Bearman.

The car evidently showed improvements in Jeddah but suffered a reduction in race pace as the laps proceeded. Due to this, Fernando Alonso lost a spot to the McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. Although the Spaniard was seemingly content with Aston Martin's performance, he still yearned to curb the fraction of seconds lost on the asphalt.

Alonso gave his verdict on the car in the official press release, saying (via Racer):

"I'm very happy with finishing fifth in today's race. I think finishing in front of one McLaren, one Ferrari, and both Mercedes is a great result for the team and probably around the maximum we can achieve at the moment."

He added:

“We saw in the race that we still miss two or three-tenths compared to Mercedes and McLaren, and maybe a little bit more compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, when in qualifying we seem to be really close. So we need to keep working on the race pace."

Fernando Alonso's teammate Lance Stroll talks about his 6 laps of experience with the AMR24

While struggling with the faster rivals in his proximity and in a bid to build some gap, Lance Stroll found himself wrecked into the wall. It meant that all the onus was on Alonso to bring the much-needed points for the team and the latter delivered.

Within six laps of his stint, Stroll could notice the degradation of tires which were robbing the pace from his #18 AMR24, making it tough for him to keep up with the catching-up traffic. He concurred with Fernando Alonso about the struggles with race pace.

Stroll believes that the greater potential in the car is yet to unlock and the duo can witness the solution of the problems being implemented at the upcoming Australian GP, scheduled to flag off on Sunday, March 24.

The 25-year-old said in the post-race press release:

"There are positives to take away, the team has scored points in both races and we feel there’s more pace to unlock in the car...I’m sure we can pick up the momentum again."