Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin should realign its ambitions for the 2025 season and car, rather than the remainder of this season.
The team, based in Silverstone with its leading Spanish driver who is 43, seems to have regressed significantly after a promising 2023.
"It's been up and down," Alonso expressed during an event at Zandvoort, acknowledging his own part in the fluctuating performance. "I'm not super happy with my season. But I'm a lot happier than people think."
"I don't know what people expect sometimes when the car is fighting with the midfield teams and I still score good points. Lance (Stroll) is doing an incredible job this year, but when I read some news, that it is one of my worst seasons, I have twice as many points as him," he further elaborated.
Currently, Aston Martin stands fifth in the constructors' rankings, trailing significantly behind Mercedes and having accumulated more than double the points of the chasing RB.
"The target is, what, ninth and tenth in every race?" Alonso queried. "That's what we've striving for.
"The top four are 30 to 45 seconds ahead of us in every race. To be in the top eight we need a retirement from the cars ahead. So these are the targets but we have a lot to test, a lot of ideas on the car that we want to try in preparation for next year's car," he continued.
"So what will be my biggest motivation or my biggest concern for the last ten races - to have a good understanding of many of the unknowns we have and finish the season with a clear idea.
"It doesn't matter if we are in the points or not, but we need to make sure we start on the right path next year."
Speculation is intensifying that Adrian Newey is likely to switch to Aston Martin after his obligations with Red Bull wrap up early next year.
Confronted by Spanish journalists at the Dutch GP about his confidence in Newey joining the team, Alonso responded with a light-hearted remark.
"I have the same confidence as when I woke up in Monaco one day and they said there was a press conference at 12 o'clock announcing that he is joining Ferrari," Alonso joked.
"I mean, they are all rumours, and we have so many things and so many problems to solve to get performance out of the car that we cannot be distracted every weekend by where everyone is going to be." body check tags ::
