Fernando Alonso says a dream win at the Spanish Grand Prix is unrealistic due to a “very dominant” Red Bull.
The omens for the double world champion to score victory No.33 at his home race have been coming thick and fast in the build-up to this weekend’s race in Barcelona.
However, on Thursday, Alonso, who claimed his last F1 win came in Spain back in 2013, was quick to pop the hype balloon with a dose of reality.
“It feels good. Obviously, there is a special energy every time in Spain when I come here and I see all the fans,” he said ahead of his 25th F1 race weekend in his home country via Formula1.com.
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“I don’t think, realistically, we can fight for the victory. Let’s be clear,” Alonso stated.
“Red Bull has been very dominant all season long so I don’t see any reason why in Barcelona they should not aim for a one-two, but let’s see what we can do.
“A few updates for everybody, especially for Ferrari and Mercedes in Monaco, so let’s see.”
Later, Alonso picked up on that last point and noted how Aston Martin is still playing catch up to the teams around them in terms of the pace of in-season development.
“I think Ferrari is already two floors into this season, Mercedes obviously with a completely new car in Monaco and more upgrades here, Red Bull had a Baku package and another one here,” he told Sky Sports.
“So we understand that we are not in that position yet, but we stay humble, we stay delivering the job on Sundays and try to score more points than them.
“We have some new parts. I’m not sure exactly what, you will see it on the documents that the FIA is releasing (on Friday),” he added.
“I think front wing, there is some modification there, and we’re bringing always new parts to the car. Some of them are just circuit-specific, sometimes it’s just an improvement in lap time.
“I’m happy with how we are approaching every race, there is something always new on our car, try to keep up the pace with the top teams.
“I think we’re still growing in that area of the team, we found ourselves in a very competitive place this year, that we didn’t expect, so I think we still need to speed up things.”