Fernando Alonso believes the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year was likely Aston Martin’s best chance at a race win in 2023.
After finishing seventh in the Constructors Championship last season, the Silverstone-based squad has made a seismic leap up the order this year.
Alonso has scored six podiums in the first eight races and the team is narrowly trailing Mercedes for second in the standings.
Although it has been able to consistently fight for podiums, race wins have largely been out of its reach as Red Bull has dominated the campaign so far.
However, in Monaco, Aston Martin’s package was tipped to perform well around the tight streets.
Alonso looked to be on course for pole position before he was ousted by Max Verstappen, whose lap time was less than a tenth ahead of Alonso’s – Verstappen then went on to seal the win.
Aston Martin then suffered a challenging round in Barcelona before returning to the podium in Canada last weekend.
Alonso was buoyant over Aston Martin’s prospects in Canada prior to the race event, stating that the team understood that the Spanish Grand Prix performance was a one-off.
“I think it was more the reaction after Barcelona, knowing that probably was more a one-off, that we were uncompetitive, than being in Canada, you know, our best chance,” he said.
“I think we will be, hopefully, on a very competitive position all throughout the year, and maybe only Barcelona being a little bit out of pace. So that’s the hope.”
While Alonso says that it could snatch a victory at various circuits, he concedes that Monaco was probably its best opportunity to do so this year.
“I don’t think that we point at one weekend, here in Canada or any other has the biggest chance of winning,” he said.
“Probably Monaco was, to be honest, in our calendar, our best chance and we were very close: only 40 or 50 milliseconds off pole position, and then in the race, obviously the chance with the weather coming at the end.
“So, let’s see when we have another opportunity.”
