Is Fernando Alonso ‘maybe putting the car a step above its real place?’

In a fight with Mercedes for second in the standings, Jesus Balseiro has questioned whether Aston Martin are only in the thick of it because Fernando Alonso is putting the car “above its real place”.

Bringing in five podiums in the first seven races of this season, Alonso has emerged as the one of the stars of the 2023 championship with the Spaniard shining in his first season with Aston Martin.

It has been noted by rivals the massive step forward that Aston Martin have taken with Toto Wolff putting it down to more than a second between 2022 and this season.

But that hasn’t stopped Mercedes from entering the fray with the Brackley squad in their revised W14 getting the better of Alonso and his team-mate Lance Stroll at round seven, the Spanish Grand Prix.

That Sunday Mercedes brought home a two-car podium with Lewis Hamilton P2 to George Russell’s third while Stroll and Alonso were only sixth and seventh at a track that is better suited to the Mercedes F1 car.

It has led to pundits questioning whether that race was the beginning of a new chapter in the championship, one in which Mercedes are Red Bull’s main rivals, not Aston Martin.

Balseiro, a journalist for AS, says he wonders all along if Alonso has been getting more out of the AMR23 than the car’s “real” performance.

“I asked Fernando right when he jumped out of the car and he said that he is not worried about Mercedes, he thinks it is a track thing, this is Mercedes track as it has been in the past,” he said in the F1 Nation podcast.

“And actually he’s words were in Canada ‘we will crush them’.

“He thinks that with the upgrades they will bring in Canada and the following race that he expects Aston won’t slow down in this fight.

“But also it’s fair to say that this fight, Aston-Mercedes, in a way Mercedes is up there because they have two strong drivers but also I don’t know how much Fernando is pushing the Aston up.

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“Maybe the Aston Martin is below Mercedes on a regular basis but it is Fernando with his five podiums in seven races who is maybe putting the car a step above its real place.”

The Spanish Grand Prix result meant Mercedes overhauled Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship as their double podium put them 18 points ahead.

It could, however, have been a very different story if both drivers had been scoring big points for Aston Martin in the opening six races when the Silverstone team’s car was quicker than the W14.

While Alonso brought in five podiums and a P4 in that time, scoring 93 points, Stroll didn’t once feature on the podium and scored just 26 points.

“If Aston Martin would have two drive us of the calibre of Fernando Alonso, they would definitely be second [in the] Constructors’ Championship,” states Motorsport-Magazin’s Christian Menath.

“And that’s going to be a really interesting talking point, I think in the next month.

“Okay after this race [Spain], probably not so much because I think Lance did a really good job. Fernando didn’t do his best job this weekend, he admitted it. And he was really angry with himself after qualifying. He said he thought about it last night, and he wanted to turn back the time and do the last Q3 lap once again.

“That shows how that he has the championship mentality as well. That’s going to be interesting in the next few months. And for the future.”

Alonso is expecting a better performance from Aston Martin in Canada, the defiant double World Champion saying after Spain: “It will not happen again, this is our last race without podiums.”