The Fernando Alonso tweet from 2015 you need to read right now

A decade-old tweet. A present-day challenge. Fernando Alonso on patience, progress, and trusting the process.

Back in 2015, Fernando, with a deep respect for Japanese culture – and a samurai tattooed across his back – tweeted something that could easily pass for a samurai proverb.

It was, in fact, a paraphrase from Carlos Castaneda's Tales of Power, a meditation on the warrior's path:

A warrior has to deal with the path of improvement. His life is a challenge, and challenges are not good or bad – they are simply challenges.

More than 10 years later, Fernando and the team face exactly that after a challenging start to F1's new era.

Heading into the Japanese Grand Prix, the home race of our works partner Honda, we've gathered a selection of Fernando's thoughts this season as he reflects on the scale of the task ahead and the unwavering commitment of the team.

Looking forward

"It's definitely been a challenging start to the season. More challenging than we wanted, and more challenging than expected.

"But we need to wait and have faith in Honda. Everyone is working flat-out to improve the situation. Meanwhile, we need to keep experimenting on the car and hopefully enjoy this home race for Honda.

"I have so many incredible memories of Japan: the people, the cities, the circuit, the food. And all of them are very positive. It's a country that I love – it's so fascinating, unusual and different from anywhere else we visit. The fans are amazing.

"So yeah, I'm looking forward, even with the challenge ahead."

Progress

"We know the challenge ahead of us is a big challenge, but we accept it, and we go for it.

"Everyone in the team is doing everything they can, but technology in Formula One is very complex and things require a little bit of time.

"Maybe we don't see the progress that we all want to see, but things are happening – smaller or bigger. There is always progress, and hopefully that will be visible in lap-time soon."

Maintaining perspective

"We all want to win. But there are 22 drivers. One will win, 21 will be in a difficult state.

"For me, to finish third or fifth or 17th, it doesn't matter much. I've been lucky to drive in different eras in Formula One, achieving more than 100 podiums."

There is always a target

"You have to keep united. You have to keep motivated. Sometimes it's difficult when you are not really fighting for top places, but there is always a goal. There is always a challenge. There is always a target for the weekend.

"For us right now, it's just to get better, to improve the car, to understand it more. We had a very short winter and didn't manage all the programme we wanted, we haven't completed the running we wanted, so we have a long list to do, and that's already motivating enough."

One team

"We are on this journey as one team: Aston Martin Aramco and Honda. It's not the ideal start, but it's the first year of this collaboration. We try to help as much as we can – allocating resources, analysing data, supporting the power unit where possible.

"We have to go through this moment, and I'm ready to help as much as I can."

Two steps

"It's difficult to say when we will have normal weekends. First, we need to fix reliability. Then performance will come later. So there are two steps – and hopefully the first step comes as soon as possible."