Alonso was speaking in the pre-event press conference for F1’s returning Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, a week on from the announcement that he will continue to race with Aston for at least the next two years beyond his current contract expiring at 2024’s conclusion.
When asked if Aston is now developing its AMR24 car package around him as the team’s main figure – Alonso having registered 63% of the team’s 314 points and all of its eight podiums since he joined from Alpine at the start of 2022 – he replied: “I don’t think so.
“Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can. I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.
“I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than what I am, which is very important for the team. I think the analysis that Lance can reach and can feedback to the team is crucial to us and to improve the car.
“I’m a little bit un-sensitive [sic] to things sometimes and this is not a good thing.
“We are both trying to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction that we develop the car and we normally finalise the set-ups on a weekend and it’s exactly the same.
“So, we arrive at the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think those two different styles are just a good thing for Aston.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Pressed on where he claims to lack sensitivity behind the wheel, the double F1 world champion, 2018-19 World Endurance champion and two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner said his comments concerned how “sometimes I drive the car around the problems that we have”.
He added: “And that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract 90% of it.
“But to reach 100% of the potential of the car, sometimes I’m not able to do [that] without sometimes the help from my team-mate on special details on the set-up or balance problems here and there.
“So, I think we benefit from each other in many different ways and this is a good thing at the moment.”