Photo credits: Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team
Aston Martin’s AMR23 is proving to be a formidable beast on track and in the hands of the former two-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion Fernando Alonso is living up to its potential. Even so, all eyes are on what upgrades Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team will announce but one should not underestimate Aston Martin getting better and better. After all, according to Alonso, underestimating Aston Martin is something people ‘do every weekend’.
Red Bull Racing have won all possible Grands Prix so far this season and are dominating at the front of the grid. However, during this time, Fernando Alonso has claimed four podiums out of a possible five. These performances have now seen the Spaniard reach 102 podiums in the pinnacle of motorsport and, based on the form Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team is in, Alonso looks set to record many more top 3 finishes before the season is over.
An F1 season always brings upgrades even in the cost cap era and Fernando Alonso told media what his expectations are for any possible improvement to his current package.
“It will change, I think, track to track depending on the characteristics but within 1 tenth up and down. I heard that Mercedes and Ferrari will bring big things…we have scheduled some upgrades that you will see from time to time in the year,”
The much-loved Spaniard then went on to describe his current mindset and his team’s approach to racing as he stated: “For us it’s just a gift where we are. You know, we didn’t expect to be in this position, so we just race every Sunday calmly without pressure.”
This is certainly an approach which is paying dividends as Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, having only finished P7 in the standings last season, now sit in the runner up spot. The team’s tally of 102 points (75 of those scored by Alonso) finds them the closest team to challenging the might of Red Bull Racing in this season’s F1 Constructors’ Championship. However, with Red Bull Racing a commanding 122 points in front, the challenge is a somewhat distant one. Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s lead over their closest rival, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, is a slender one of just six points.
The revival of Mercedes has not gone unnoticed by the former two-time F1 Drivers’ Champion, and he was pragmatic in his response: “If we can still outscore them on Sunday, that’s good news. If we can’t, because we cannot follow their progress that they are making, you know, we will prepare for 2024 the best way possible. But we are growing as a team, you know, we are in a position that we didn’t expect with a very fast car, and we are trying to make the team strong in you know the other areas that we’re still not maybe at the highest level,” said Alonso.
The question was also put to Fernando Alonso as to whether people are underestimating what his team is capable of. His reply was quite simply “They did already – they do every weekend.” When Alonso was asked if he would like to expand on this answer anymore – “No” – was the reply which amused the journalists in attendance.
As always, Fernando Alonso is a man to let his performances do the talking and with the Monaco Grand Prix weekend on the horizon, it is a race many pundits and fans alike expect Aston Martin to perform well at.
The AMR23 is a very quick car but not the greatest on the long straights – something Monaco certainly lacks. Instead, Aston Martin’s 2023 F1 challenger is very good in the corners – something Monaco certainly has. Fernando Alonso already highlighted Monaco as a track which could bring him his 33rd F1 victory as he previously told Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle “Let’s say Monaco, Budapest, Singapore. These kinds of circuits, I think we put our main hopes at the moment.”
Many neutral F1 fans will no doubt be hoping that Fernando Alonso can indeed challenge Red Bull Racing around the Principality of Monaco. Alonso is a strong favourite for a podium even before the race weekend has begun but should the Spaniard find his way to the top step on Sunday it would surely be a major moment in Alonso’s illustrious career. That would certainly be quite a feat for a team no one had high hopes for at the start of the year but would surely add pressure for the expectation of 2024…and beyond. A pressure which one would imagine Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso would surely welcome.
