Fernando Alonso: “I think Red Bull is in its own league.”

With 6 podiums in 8 Grand Prix races, Fernando Alonso is certainly the man of this early season. Leaving Alpine this winter to join Silverstone and Aston Martin, the Spaniard surely did not expect such a leap forward. However, the British team has indeed become a top team. And with Alonso, the partnership is perfect. At 41 years old, the Oviedo native hasn’t lost any of his sublime talent, race after race. He is chasing his 33rd career victory, which he sees more and more possible with Aston Martin. Will it come this year? The Spaniard arrives in Austria realistic but happy with this start of the season, with a touch of opportunism.

Alonso hopes to regain the performances of Montreal

In Canada, the gap between Red Bull and the other leading teams has narrowed. Fernando Alonso, in 2nd place, was only 9 seconds behind Max Verstappen. But nobody really knows why. According to Helmut Marko, the track was not favorable to Red Bull. For Alonso, the Gilles Villeneuve circuit suited his Aston Martin. The gaps were small, and the improvements made by the top teams must have played a role. Alonso hopes to achieve similar performances in the next Grand Prix. « I think we had different performances in Barcelona and Canada, different feelings with the cars, so yes, I hope we will be closer to the performances in Canada and that we will try to improve the package a bit more », he said.

It will be important for Aston Martin to find the right setup in the car to try to compete with Red Bull, who seem untouchable. « “I think we will have to see tomorrow, during the practice sessions, how the car feels and how competitive we can be this weekend,” said Alonso.

Attention, there will only be one free practice session this sprint weekend. This may inconvenience some teams as they will have very little time to test new parts and adjustments. However, Fernando Alonso hopes to be able to test certain things on the car. « In Canada, I think the weekend was very short after the cancellation of FP1. So it will be another very short weekend here – only FP1 – but I hope we can test some elements on the car. »

The Spaniard happy to be at the forefront

When he signed for Aston Martin, many criticized Alonso’s choice, even denouncing it as yet another poor career decision. But just a few Grand Prix races before the summer break, Alonso proved everyone wrong with this choice, which quickly revealed itself to be excellent.

However, there is still one step for Aston Martin to take: victory. They came close in Monaco and Canada, but it is this step that will change the status of the Silverstone team. Even though Alonso is happy to be fighting at the front of the pack, he admits that for now, Red Bull is much too strong. “I think Red Bull is in their own league at the moment, this year,” he declared.

But Fernando Alonso is delighted to be able to fight with the other top teams, something he didn’t think would be possible at this stage of his career. It is therefore important to score points with both cars every weekend and try to continue to compete with Mercedes and Ferrari, which is obviously still hard to believe for us that we are in this battle, said the Spaniard. Alonso savors, knowing that the colossal resources deployed by Aston Martin will lead to victory in the future. For now, he is happy to fight like in the good old days: When we started the season in Bahrain, we really didn’t expect to be up there, but now we’re enjoying every weekend and it’s great to be in this battle.

Last year, it was Charles Leclerc who emerged victorious ahead of Max Verstappen’s slightly less performant Red Bull. With the competition from Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Ferrari, Red Bull might have a more challenging weekend than previous ones. We’ll have to wait and see the free practice session for initial observations. Fernando Alonso knows he’ll have to seize every opportunity to secure a 33rd career victory at the Red Bull Ring.