Fernando Alonso has admitted it will be difficult for him to take his first Formula 1 victory in a decade after finishing distant third at the Miami Grand Prix.
After unexpectedly finding himself on the front row, Alonso was best of the non-Red Bull drivers for the fourth race in 2023 but will now switch his focus to helping Aston Martin maintain second in the constructors’ championship.
“I think the year is going to be difficult,” said Alonso to the media when asked about winning a race in 2023. “The gap is quite big even though I think today has been our best race pace yet in the season.
“We finish, I think, closest to the leaders, no safety cars, nothing in the race, and we’re still quite fast. Hopefully some of the tracks, we will be a little bit closer to them.
“I think at the beginning of the year, a podium was amazing. Now after four podiums, we want more and a second place. But, the two Red Bulls, they are always unbreakable.”
Pressure off in lonely race
Alonso, who is third in the F1 driver standings, decided to run his own race after he failed to get the jump on Perez at the start.
“It was a little bit of a lonely race,” said Alonso. “Nothing really to do in front of us with the Red Bulls but behind us, not much pressure.
“We take this [as] good result for us, fourth podium in five races, we only miss Baku by eight-tenths of a second, so yeah, I think it’s a good moment so far.”
