Minor sneer from Alonso to Alpine: 'This team focused on winning'

If one team symbolised mid-field in 2023, it was surely Alpine. For most races, the French team had no competition; the top teams were far out of sight, while the car was strong enough to easily keep the smaller teams behind. Alpine will remember 2023 mainly because of the many personnel changes at the top of the team.

How different was the situation at Aston Martin: to his own surprise, the British team found themselves back at the head of the field, especially in the first half of the season, competing weekly for podium spots. In hindsight, then, Fernando Alonso appears to have made the right choice. Had the Spaniard stayed with Alpine even in 2023, he would have competed in the middle of the field. With Aston Martin, the two-time world champion reached the podium eight times.

Alonso praises Aston Martin mentality

Everything last season showed that Alonso felt like a fish out of water at Aston Martin. Now that he has been able to take a look behind the scenes at both Alpine and Aston Martin, the veteran has come to the conclusion that the differences between the two teams are huge, as he himself tells GPblog: "Yeah, probably different, different than Alpine for sure. I think this team is very focused on winning and on racing for the next few years. This doesn't mean that we don't want to sell cars, and that will help the whole project. But first priority is to win in Formula One, and then the rest of the things will just unfold naturally." 

In any case, Alonso and Aston Martin seem to have really found each other. "Yeah, it has been a good fit. As you said, I think the team is very young, very motivated, and ready to embrace the next chapter in the project. I think after Lawrence [Stroll] arrived in the team with the future and the ambitious project, I think everyone is just all in on this project. I'm happy when everyone is just dedicated to one mission, dedicated to winning and focusing on racing. But I don't know if it's the best or not in my career in terms of fitting. I remember Ferrari being Spanish and they are Italians. It was a very nice experience as well for me."