In a rainy-to-dry Montreal race, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished sixth and seventh, both driving well but trailing behind the faster cars from Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren.
It was a good result for the Silverstone-based team, which had struggled in the early part of the 2024 season compared to its rivals. Red Bull seemed to have moved ahead of them, but Aston Martin scored 10 points more than the Faenza team in Montreal, solidifying its hold on fifth place.
But before heading back to more typical European tracks like Barcelona and Silverstone, Aston Martin isn’t celebrating too soon about fixing the tricky handling of its AMR24 car, which might show more issues on circuits with high downforce and fast corners.
Team principal Mike Krack warned, “It would be premature to say we have understood everything. I think we have a lot of work to do still. But obviously, it was a step in the right direction this weekend. There are different and difficult circuits coming up, so we need to sit down and see what is the best possible package for the races to come because they will be very intense.”
Stroll believed that Aston’s performance in Montreal was specific to the track due to its focus on aerodynamics and performance in slower corners. He said, “The track definitely suited our car. We’re quick in a straight line, not so much downforce, efficient, good DRS switch, all these things, which is good for Canada. The car is still maybe going to be more difficult come Barcelona and Budapest and these kind of long corners.”
Alonso hinted at new upgrades for the Spanish GP, hoping they will improve Aston’s fortunes, but he also anticipated difficulties in Barcelona. He said, “On paper, we were happier with Montreal than Barcelona, we think that this track was going to be better for us but let’s see if we have a nice surprise. I know the team is also working very hard to bring some new things for Barcelona, so it’s going to be a very interesting weekend. Let’s see if we can score points again with both cars, which obviously is the thing that we are looking at at the moment. The last few months were very productive for us in terms of understanding the cars so I’m very confident.”
