During the Miami Grand Prix weekend, round five of the 23-race championship, Fernando Alonso’s tone changed.
Yes, the double world champion was delighted to give Aston Martin its fourth podium finish in five races. Yes, he was happy to now have more podiums in 2023 than in his SEVEN seasons combined. Yes, he was happy to beat the Ferraris and Mercedes with pure pace.
READ MORE: “After four podiums, obviously we want more,” says Alonso after finishing P3 in Miami
But for the first time this year, third place wasn’t enough. He wanted more. Miami was a lonely race for the Spaniard – so much so that he had time to watch the big screens and over the team radio to congratulate his teammate on some of his passes (see video clip below).
For Alonso, Aston Martin put her in second place in terms of performance. The AMR23 has been competitive at all five very different circuits so far this year and they’ve succeeded without making any notable updates throughout the season.
Now he’s got his mojo back and is able to use his talent, which he’s used over the past seven years to remind everyone he still has it – although no one could be sure if he was accurate because the machines he rode weren’t always powerful enough – Alonso wants to get back on the top step.
“We want to be one step higher on the podium and get P2 and eventually we have a chance to win a race – but at the moment that hasn’t happened because Red Bull is better than us,” says Alonso.
2023 Miami Grand Prix: Alonso follows the action on big screens
“It’s stronger, it’s faster and the reliability has always been outstanding for them, they’ve finished both cars in every race. So if there’s a rift one day, if an opportunity arises, we have to make sure we’re in that position and don’t make any mistakes at any point during the weekend.”
For all Alonso’s self-confidence – and he has enough of that – he is also very realistic. The 41-year-old accepts that Red Bull are a notch ahead of the rest, that they are at least a season ahead in developing these new regulations and that Aston Martin has taken a big step in that direction and continues to close the gap that is large.
“The year will be difficult,” he says. “The gap is quite big, although I think we had our best race pace of the season today. I think we’re closest to the frontrunners, there are no safety cars, nothing in the race and we’re still pretty quick. So let’s see. I think the season will be long.
“Hopefully we’re a little closer on some tracks. And some of the improvements we’ll be introducing later in the season may put us in a different or more competitive position. But I think our main focus, to be honest, is just looking backwards and trying to keep Mercedes and Ferrari under control in the constructors’ championship.”
But Alonso also recognizes that he is running out of time. Patience wasn’t always his forte. Though he says he can always go on, he knows it’s more years than a decade. And now that he’s sniffing a car and demonstrating an operation that can give him that winning feeling again (his last Grand Prix win was in Spain in 2013), he’ll be increasing the pressure internally to motivate them to pull off the feat accomplish.
There are races this year where Alonso has his eye on a possible win. Monaco is one of them, his home race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is another. If he continues to finish off the two Red Bulls, there will be a chance for him at some point – and he will seize it immediately.
All will not be smooth sailing, however, as boss Mike Krack reckons the team will struggle at low-downforce tracks like Spa and Monza – the complete opposite of their form when they were Force India, the orange and white cars were mighty on these tracks -Fast tracks and everything else lackluster.
“I think Monza and Las Vegas, Spa maybe.” Krack explains where there are question marks on her form. “But there is still time before then so that we can make some developments.
“I think as a team it’s good, you have to learn how your car behaves, how your car behaves compared to the competition. We’re hearing from left and right that Mercedes has big strides ahead of them, so we can’t let them down, but I also think we can’t just focus on a single race, like Monza or whatever. We will now take them as they come and try to do our best.”
That response also reflects Alonso’s belief that Aston will be competitive at most races this year – and that’s exactly the kind of form that will earn them a surprise second place in the Constructors’ Championship and title contenders in 2024.
QUIZ: How much do you know about Fernando Alonso’s F1 career?
The work also continues behind the scenes. The team will be in their fancy new factory at the end of the month, the wind tunnel is due to open in about a year, recruitment is ongoing and the team is forming well.
And as we’ve seen so many times in Formula 1 over the years, success breeds success. Rising from nothing to regular podium contender had an immediate impact on the team. They worked hard anyway, but now they work even harder.
Aston Martin is back and already one of the top teams in Formula 1. That’s a hell of an achievement. It remains to be seen if they can become a fixture at the top over the next few years, but what we’ve seen so far in 2023 hardly suggests that won’t be the case.
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