Fernando Alonso has put the Monaco Grand Prix among his “main hopes” for a victory in 2023.
The Spaniard has enjoyed a strong start to life with Aston Martin scoring 15 points at each of the first five races to currently sit third in the Drivers’ Championship.
But with the team now consolidating itself in the leading group, unsurprisingly, Alonso is now shifting his goals going forward.
“I think at the beginning of the year a podium was amazing,” he said via Sky Sports. “Now after four podiums, we want obviously more and at least a second place.
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“You know, the two Red Bulls they are always unbreakable, and they are always super-fast. It [Red Bull’s RB19] is stronger, it’s faster and the reliability has been always outstanding for them as well, finishing both cars in every race.
“If one day there is a crack there, there is an opportunity, we need to make sure we are in that position and we’re still not making mistakes at any point in the weekend.”
Alonso recently surpassed a decade since his last win in F1 at the 2013 Spanish GP, but there are circuits that he feels could offer a better chance of claiming victory No.33.
“We seem to have a car that is maybe not the fastest on the straights,” he noted. “We need to improve that, but we are very good on the corners.
“So I would say that the slowest tracks of the championship, let’s say Monaco, Budapest, Singapore.
“These kinds of circuits, I think we put our main hopes at the moment.”
Aston Martin boss Mike Krack is remaining realistic, however, insisting the team has to focus on keeping its current position.
“Feet on the ground, you should never take a podium in F1 as normal or as a given,” he declared.
“It’s a lot of hard work involved to be on the podium and you have very, very strong competitors in Formula 1, very professional. And if we are not 100 percent in all areas at all times, then there is no podium.
“We are substantially behind them [Red Bull],” Krack added. “Even if they stand still, the gap would be big to catch up in one season. Plus they have a different infrastructure, different firepower than we do.
“Of course, we take the fastest car as a reference. We just don’t drive ourselves crazy and constantly look at the distances to Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine. That’s useless. The tracks are very different. Sometimes one grows together, sometimes the other.”
