Fearing that his team is focussed on next season, as Aston Martin continues to slip down the order Fernando Alonso warns that the Silverstone-based outfit must react to the decline.

Currently seventh on ten points, the majority of which came amidst the chaos of Melbourne, Aston Martin is looking likely to slip even further down the order.

Two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso, who has yet to open his points account, admits surprise at the team's dreadful start to the season.

"We are not as competitive as we want to be," he says, in a masterpiece of understatement, "we thought we'd be, but I think there is not only one theme.

"There are a couple of factors that make the car a little bit difficult at the moment, in terms of pace, and maybe not as fast as some of the midfield teams that have raised their level and are closer to the top four... we didn't make that step.

"We need to react," he warns, "we need to do things better and hopefully in the next few races we have a step forward, but yeah, it has been more difficult than expected.

"Miami has not been really a good track for us, even in '23 with a podium here, we only came alive in qualifying, all the free practices were a little bit uncompetitive for our standards in '23 at the beginning of the year.

"And last year also, even if we started the season strong, especially in qualifying, Miami was difficult. So, let's see if we change things this year, but it could be a tough weekend, for sure."

Team boss Andy Cowell has ruled out any help from design guru Adrian Newey who is focussed on next year's car.

"I'm not too worried about next year's car," he says. "I think this year is just a continuation of some of the problems that we found in the last two seasons, and we were not able to overcome some of the obstacles that we found.

"For next year, with the new regulations and Adrian on board, I think nothing of this year's car is going to be into next year's project, so it's a complete reset, so I'm not too concerned for next year. And for this year, I think the fix is not as straightforward, and there's nothing we can do from night to day."