42-year-old Fernando Alonso has been a prime contender for F1’s story of the season. Given his age, many wrote him off at the beginning of the season, but the Spaniard proved all his critics wrong. Aiming for his 33rd win in a career spanning over two decades, Alonso poses a threat to Verstappen’s 9-race unbeaten run in Monza. After finishing P2 in Zandvoort, the Spaniard is filled with immense confidence, which was on show during FP3 in Monza.
Speaking to PlanetF1 in a press conference, Alonso said he sees Ferrari and Williams as his biggest competitors going into the race in Italy. With Red Bull as the favorite to win the race once again, Alonso expects a three-way battle for a podium finish.
Should Alonso’s confidence bear fruit, the other teams will have a hard time getting the better of the veteran driver. With Aston Martin hoping to worry Red Bull in Monza, the pace they had in FP3 will certainly have their confidence riding high.
Fernando Alonso exudes pure confidence during FP3 in Monza
Driving in Monza during Saturday’s FP3, Fernando Alonso took his car around the track for 24 laps. The Spaniard enjoyed his time on the track and showcased high speeds and a stable car. At one point, Alonso led the lap times and could easily out-maneuver the other cars. As such, the 42-year-old sent a radio message to his team, which had him beaming with all the confidence in the world.
“The cars behind are slow.”- Aston Martin.
“Yeah, they will have a bad surprise in qualifying.”- Fernando Alonso.
Alonso will soon receive a major boost in his bid to challenge for the second position in the driver’s championship, with GPFans reporting the team’s performance director, Tom McCullough, saying they are working on bringing in a few more upgrades to their cars. While the team is hard at work to improve their car even more, they have also started working on the 2024 car in the hopes of gaining an edge over their competition.
Alonso is hungry for win number 33
Having been in the sport for more than twenty years, Alonso has one of the worst winning percentages in the history of F1. The Spanish driver has only won 32 Grands Prix while managing to win two world titles. However, the unfortunate stat does not waver Alonso’s morale as he is hungry to win more while driving for the Silverstone outfit.
After a challenging race in Zandvoort, the driver told his team he could feel a win coming for them soon. With three second-place finishes this season, the driver believes his team is on the right path to play spoilsport to Red Bull’s ambitions of going unbeaten this season. Alonso told Motorsport.com that he feels they are sometimes close to matching Red Bull during a race. He remains hopeful of being able to catch the Austrian outfit soon and wouldn’t mind taking a risk when the time comes.
