Alonso has one big goal: 'Hopefully first win will come with Aston Martin'

Dan Fallows, Aston Martin's technical director, expects Red Bull Racing to be beatable in 2024 by the British team that Fernando Alonso drives for. The Spanish veteran obviously hopes Fallows' words become the truth because he wants to take that 33rd Grand Prix victory.

Alonso himself had not heard it from Fallows. But once informed of the Aston Martin technical man's words, the two-time world champion could not suppress a smile: "Well, that's a good thing that he says that. Put a smile on my face. I didn't speak with Dan for a few weeks now. But, yes, I think we have to be optimistic at this part of the season," Alonso told the likes of GPblog.

Alonso dreams of first F1 win with Aston Martin

The now 42-year-old driver refers to last season, in which he reached the podium eight times. But he also saw how the competition managed to catch up with Aston Martin during the second half of the season: "Ferrari finished really strong and achieved a few pole positions in the last part of the year. McLaren also did a huge step during the season and got close to the Red Bull in few races. So, yes, let's see what happens."

"I think we have to to be regular in the points first, fighting for podiums or be a contender for podiums as we did last year. And then if we are in that position, it will be lovely to achieve the first victory in green for Aston Martin. And hopefully, I can be behind the wheel that moment."

Yet Alonso certainly doesn't want to push too hard. "It's going to be very tight. There are four or five teams within two or three tenths of a second this year, I bet. So that will put you with two tenths of a second fighting for podiums or fighting out of the top ten. So we need to be really focused on that."