Aston Martin at least a year ahead of Alonso's schedule

Fernando Alonso's usually high standards have put the Aston Martin team on edge considerably since his switch from Alpine was announced last summer. But now that target seems to be achieved faster than predicted. The team is at least a year ahead of schedule, it seems.

Last year when Alonso's switch was announced, the Spaniard underlined the potential of the British racing stable. A new factory would be built at a cost of as much as £200 million and should be able to compete with teams such as Red Bull Racing, Mercedes and Ferrari in two years' time. But after three consecutive podium finishes from Fernando Alonso, the Silverstone-based team looks set to exceed even its own expectations. The Spaniard is having his best start to the season in years. "I was hoping for '23 to be a learning season and in '24 maybe to be challenging Ferraris and Mercedes and things like that," Alonso told opposite The Race.

Exactly 12 months ago, Aston Martin was even last among constructors. Currently, the team is firmly second there, and is even ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes. It has to be said, though, that both teams are really struggling with the performance of their cars. So perhaps that does distort things.

"It's all to do with pace versus position isn't it? So at the moment, our gap to the top is what we expected. Only we didn't expect to be second with that. So I expect Ferrari and Mercedes to catch up during the season," said Tom McCullough (Aston Martin Performance Director).