Fernando Alonso is fighting for the podiums this year. But it wasn’t long ago when finishing up so high could be the highlight of his year. Realizing that second coming to the top, Alonso is in disbelief that he gets to battle with Mercedes and Ferrari.
Even for his current team, it’s something unexpected. The two sides allied this year to plan their climb to the summit of Formula 1. However, they didn’t know that they would be progressing so rapidly.
Aston Martin finished P7 in the standings last year, while Sebastian Vettel served them. Since then, the Silverstone-based team has made its case as the second fastest team on the grid, and for Alonso, it’s probably a ‘pinch me’ moment.
Fernando Alonso says he can’t believe that he is fighting with top sides
This year, Aston Martin has had moments where they had an upper game against Mercedes, and especially Ferrari. Though the Silver Arrows have a 13-point lead against Alonso‘s side in the table, they are focused on finishing that gap and overtaking their engine manufacturers. And somewhere, Alonso is having a hard time believing it.
“It’s hard to believe that we’re in the battle with Mercedes and Ferrari after starting the season in Bahrain,” said Alonso during the Austrian Grand Prix press conference.
But from here, Aston Martin is aiming only to go up. If going by race pace, Red Bull seems to be the only faster car than them, and Alonso wants to beat them as the season progresses.
Only a whisker away
In Canada, Aston Martin introduced new upgrades that made them faster and helped bring a P2 finish. The gap between Alonso and Verstappen by the end of the race was merely seven seconds, and for once, the Spaniard also thought of challenging the current world champion for the win.
However, that was dropped to defend against a closer Hamilton. Now, going into the Austrian GP, Aston Martin’s Performance Director Tom McCullough claims that the team’s priority is to reduce the DRS gap against the Milton Keynes outfit.
So indeed, Aston Martin has slashed a deficit against Red Bull in terms of pace. Yet, loads of differences remain between the two sides, and challenging a win wouldn’t come easy.
