Author: Barkha Roy See More
Fernando Alonso hopes to challenge Mercedes’ dominance in the current Formula 1 season. He believes that the next race in Azerbaijan will be significantly impacted by the development packages that the teams will introduce. He therefore considers it crucial for his team to continue competing against their current opponents.
Although Red Bull has been the dominant team in the first three races of the season, the teams below it have undergone some changes. Aston Martin’s performances have improved significantly since Fernando Alonso joined the team in contrast to 2022. The AMR23 finished on the podium in all three races.
As a result, they are now competing with Mercedes for the title of second fastest car on the starting grid. The teams will introduce updates due to the cancellation of the Chinese GP and the three-week break before the next round of the season in Baku.
Alonso believes that Mercedes will be a strong competitor for Aston Martin during qualifying. He thinks it will be an essential matchday for his team. Once again, the race pace will be similar and it will be interesting to see which team develops its car the fastest.
As quoted by Motorsport, Alonso said “With Mercedes it’s a top game in qualifying. For us it’s a very important round, because then our race pace is very similar and now we’ll enter a very interesting phase of the season: which team is developing its car the fastest?“
According to Alonso, Aston Martin has made significant improvements in the 2023 season in terms of performance and competitiveness. He said the team hadn’t expected such a strong performance, having finished on the podium in all three races.
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Alonso believes that Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari, the other top teams they compete against, are used to operating at a fast pace and, as a result, their development strategies are prepared accordingly. However, he believes that Aston Martin must develop much faster to maintain this pace.
The Spaniard believes that the team should approach this season “humbly”, as it is still learning how to compete at the top. However, his two decades of experience could help the team grow much more and even reach the top step of the podium in the future.