Fernando Alonso had strong words for those who circulated unfounded rumours he was considering a move to Red Bull.
Speaking in the paddock at Interlagos on Thursday the Aston Martin driver made it clear no such move was ever under consideration and warned there would be “consequences” for those who claimed otherwise.
“It’s just rumours, the normal paddock rumours from people that they are just try to make fun of it and gain some followers and these kind of things,” said the two-times world champion. “But I’m not into that game.”
He said he was “not enjoying” the speculation reported elsewhere. “In this room, I appreciate that all of you are journalists, professional people that have been in Formula 1 for so many years, and you gain your respect and this is how it should be.
“All the rumours are coming from people that are not in this room are just here to make fun. I think it’s not funny when they play with anything.”
Alonso admitted he is concerned the rumours might make people question his loyalty to Aston Martin, who he joined at the beginning of the season and immediately scored a string of podium finishes with. “I will make sure that there are consequences,” he said.
Aston Martin’s form has dipped since the summer break and the team has slumped to fifth in the constructors’ championship. Alonso, who has only scored points in two of the last five rounds, admitted there is dissatisfaction within the team over how well their upgrades have performed this year.
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“Obviously we are not as competitive as we wanted and we are trying to get to our best level, which obviously is not the one that we are showing now,” he said. “We are analysing some of the upgrades that we brought lately.
“Here in Brazil we have a sprint format so maybe it’s a more traditional weekend for us not experimenting as much as as the last two. And obviously we are not happy, Mike [Krack, team principal] is not happy, no one is happy with the current form.”
However he stressed their current dip in form should be seen within the context of the significant progress they made during the off-season.
“This team was 250 people two years ago, now we are in this transition to be a hopefully a contender for the future, 800 people, new factory, seven podiums this year, 200 points more than last year, all these kind of things which are not the current form.
“We should not be happy, but we cannot even be too dramatic about the situation when this 2023 campaign has been a super season for us.”
He believes a top five finish is a realistic target for the team this weekend. “In Qatar, which was three races ago with the same cars, we qualified P4 we finished P6 and I went off in turn two and some other issues.
“So we just need to have good qualifying, start at the front part of the group and execute a good race. I still think that we need to put it all together, it’s going to be a challenge, but I will give my best to finish in the top five.”
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