Riding High on Aston Martin’s Rise, Fernando Alonso Boasts His Form While Underplaying Past F1 Success: “..I’m 100% Sure”

Fed up with the continued abysmal run, Fernando Alonso drew curtains on his F1 career in 2018. However, his love for the sport turned that retirement into a two-year break. Hoping to strike it big this time around, he returned to the team he won his two back-to-back championships with. Only this time, Renault had re-branded itself to Alpine and wasn’t nearly as quick as it used to be in the heyday. Growing tired again, the Asturian driver made a switch to Aston Martin, a move that has turned out to be a successful decision. While he is still far away from seriously competing for the top spot once again, Fernando feels he is in a much better place mentally than he was in 2005 and 2006.

Alonso signing a multi-year contract with Aston Martin came as a surprise given how much they struggled to cope with the ground-effect regulations. But a new year brought a new perspective and with that changed their dwindling fortunes. The AMR23 was surprisingly quick, giving even the engine supplier, Mercedes, a run for its money.

Fernando Alonso ignores the glory of the past against his current bullish run

Not only is the new car quick, but it also has something that Fernando struggled with when he was at Alpine- reliability. The Spaniard has made landing on the podium a habit with three P3 finishes in as many races until now. Clearly, he’s loving the mental space he’s in right now.

Speaking with Marca recently, while reflecting on whether the 2-year break helped, he said, “Yes, sure. It’s not so much in the driving style, but in the mentality, in how you get to the weekend… in motivation.” [Translated using Google]

“With those two years out of F1 it was refreshing, it charged my batteries,” he added. “I have a full battery and then (in 2018) it was empty. If I compare myself in terms of riding with 2005 or 2006, when I was champion, it’s better now, I’m 100% sure.”

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Fernando is not delusional, however. He also talked about when he thinks his team can realistically fight for the two championships. While doing that, he ruled out the possibility of that happening in 2023.

Alonso shares Lawrence Stroll’s vision for the success of Aston Martin

Given how dominant Red Bull was last year, it was expected of them to come back strong in 2023. However, not many expected them to build the kind of gap they have with their rivals. Currently, for the drivers’ championship, it is their own drivers who are each other’s competition. Realizing that, Alonso believes his team’s chance at titles will come next year and the year after that.

He told, “This is what we want and what the team is thinking, especially after this positive start, we think that in 2024 we can have a choice and in 2025 we can have another choice as well. Then in 2026 it will be a bit of a reset and you don’t know what can happen.”

“Currently, I think that in 2023 we have no choice, but neither do any of the rest, because Red Bull has a very difficult advantage to play.”

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Do you think Alonso and Aston Martin have set a realistic target for themselves to be able to compete for the glory in 2024? Or will Red Bull once again pull ahead of the pack?