Alonso 5th in Belgium, good news for the Spaniard

Aston Martin has had a great start to the 2023 Formula 1 season. At the beginning of the season, Fernando Alonso achieved 6 podium finishes in just 8 races. However, since his 2nd place in Canada, the Spaniard and the Silverstone-based team have not been able to reach the podium again.

In Belgium, Aston Martin has regained its form. The double world champion achieved a solid 5th place and is satisfied with the outcome of this weekend. « Today, the car was fast, we kept a Mercedes and a McLaren behind us. So, we were in the mix and it’s good news before the summer break », declared the Aston Martin driver.

But the track conditions were complicated throughout the weekend. Between rain and good weather, the drivers had to find the best optimizations to have a good race on Sunday. We never did two laps in the same conditions throughout the weekend, it just got drier and in the end, we finished on slick tires. We were more or less, except McLaren, all on a dry setup, continued the former Alpine driver.

« I was lucky at the start. Before Eau Rouge, I gained a few positions and I was a little afraid that we would fall back and that the pace would not be good enough to hold onto this position. The car seemed more normal. We had some reflections after Hungary (Fernando Alonso finished in 9th place, editor’s note) and Silverstone (the Spanish driver finished the race in 7th place, editor’s note), the team was making changes to the car’s settings and I think they paid off », explained the two-time world champion.

Number 14 still claims that the Belgian Grand Prix would be the last race without a podium for the British team. We must be careful about the comeback of Mercedes and Ferrari. Two teams that have been performing well in the latest races. However, the Spaniard can enjoy a good vacation after a satisfying first half of the season in terms of points: 3rd place behind the two Red Bulls with 149 points.