The hero of F1’s 2023 beginning turned into an unnoticeable midfielder by the end. Fernando Alonso set the hearts racing with successive podiums at an age where retired drivers are sipping a beverage and watching races on their living room televisions. What should’ve been either Mercedes’ or Ferrari’s spot on the podium was snatched by an unexpectedly quick Aston Martin. But soon after, competition caught up, and the AMR23 didn’t live up to the hype. Monza, particularly, was a horror show and Alonso has bluntly revealed why.

The Italian GP was a rather exciting one. Both Ferrari drivers delighted the home crowd with raw pace in their SF-23 tailor-made for such a circuit. And the team on the opposite end of the spectrum was Aston Martin. Their car was not made for the high-speed, low-downforce track. Yet, Alonso managed to drive his AMR23 into the points.

Addressing the same, the Spaniard said in an interview with AMuS, “We had the second slowest car in the field in Monza. It was simply undrivable. The race was a single fight for survival. The two points were the best reward you can imagine.” [translated via Google]

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Alonso outperformed his machinery at the Italian GP to secure P9 on a day when his teammate, Lance Stroll could only manage a lowly P16. Though that particular race was more difficult than others, the Spanish driver was satisfied with the season as a whole. And has already set his eyes on the future.

Fernando Alonso sets 3-year path for Aston Martin

As you read this, Aston Martin is undergoing a tremendous transformation under Lawrence Stroll’s leadership. The team is building a new campus where the entire team will work under one roof. A ‘Supercampus’, so to speak. At such an important junction, Fernando Alonso too has stressed the gravity of the work put in the next 2-3 years for Aston Martin’s charge to victory.

“I see only positives,” Alonso said about 2023. “It was unthinkable 12 months ago, at this stage, to think about the campaign we did. Now comes the tricky period for Aston Martin, the next two or three years, to find that extra bit, to create something that no one has in that moment, to be creative, to be innovative.”

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Will Aston Martin be able to live up to the promise that their current leaders show?