Fernando Alonso has revealed he injured his shoulder during the Brazilian Grand Prix and said it is not yet fully healed.
At 43, Alonso is more susceptible to injury, but his mentality has kept him going.
Alonso's first health problems emerged in Mexico where he missed media day due to a respiratory infection. After traveling from Mexico to Brazil with the same symptoms, he then injured his shoulder due to the bumpy nature of the Interlagos circuit.
“I had this infection that I had to deal with” he explains in Abu Dhabi.
“Then when I was getting better, like in Brazil, we had this super bumpy track, and then we had a lot of bounce on our car that weekend and I hurt my shoulder a little bit too. I I had a small injury that was being treated all the way to Las Vegas.”
“In Vegas I was a lot better, and here I'm 99%, but it was this time of year that was a little boring, with a little fever and an infection, antibiotics, all these things that weaken your immune system.”
“But that's the way it is. And you can't choose when you get sick. I was focused mentally. I hope that next year I will be better prepared physically.”
2024 has been a tough year for Alonso, with Aston Martin F1 failing to reach the heights of last season. The Spaniard admitted he was glad it was over.
“I'm happy it's over. I think it's a very long season for everyone, for the mechanics, for everyone in the team. 24 races is ultra demanding, especially the last hat-trick that we did.”
“For us the championship is over for a long time, not like Max [Verstappen] in Vegas, for us, it was probably after summer. We were already fifth in the constructors' championship, no threat from behind, nothing to do in front of us.”
“So the remaining seven or eight races are a bit long because you're fighting for nothing. We've been trying to find out more about the car for next year's project. But other than that, there's no much to do.”
“I’m happy to take the winter break now and start fresh next year and hope to be more competitive.”
“We fought with the tools we had on track, and I think we maximized the results. I think securing fifth place is the least we had to do in terms of expectations and after what we had. “last year, so I'm happy to finish at least within the minimum requirements.”
“But we were hoping for more, especially at the start of the year, we started strong and there were some improvements coming on the car that we dreamed of to finish higher in the season, and maybe fight for podiums or something like that.
“That's the reality. So we expected a little bit more. But it is what it is and I hope next year we can achieve it.”
Lance Stroll, for his part, is hoping for a better 2025 season, and he thinks his team has figured out how to work for next year: “It’s just about having a better car at the start of next year, a better philosophy.”
“That’s what we’re looking for. We made a lot of disappointing changes this year, we didn’t leave them on the car and we still have the package for the fourth race of the year.”
“It's disappointing and we're focusing on next year, we want to work hard this winter to be directly efficient when we start next season, and manage to be in a better position.”
“I think we have good confidence, we learned a lot this year about the directions we took, and why it didn't work for us. We learned a lot and we have a different perspective on the way to develop a car.”
The Canadian admits to having been frustrated by this 2024 season: “It was a particularly frustrating second half of the season. During the first, we weren't as happy as we wanted to be, not as much as at the start of the season the year before, but we scored points every week after week.”
“The second half of the season after the break was a much bigger challenge. But we are working on the weaknesses of our cars, we are starting to know them, we have to focus on them for next year and this is what that we expend a lot of energy.”
