Fernando Alonso holding out for further Max Verstappen-Sergio Perez bust-ups

Fernando Alonso has admitted his best chance of a win this season will come if Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez crash into each other.

The Aston Martin man may be third in the Drivers’ standings but that looks to be his current ceiling with the Red Bull duo having combined to secure victory in all three races so far this season.

While upgrades are coming to the AMR23, they are also coming to the RB19 suggesting Red Bull’s advantage over the rest of the field could grow even further.

There is also the theory, led by George Russell, that Red Bull have been holding back for fear of an FIA-imposed rule change which would curb their dominance.

Alonso’s goal this year is clear, to complete the so-called ‘Mission 33’ and secure his first race win since 2013 but he admitted some luck is needed if that is going to be the case.

“Of course I hope I can take the 33rd GP win that has been talked about so much,” he told DAZN. “But we have to be realistic.

“We know that Red Bull Racing are too far away at the moment. But anything can happen – like a problem with the stance, or a crash between the two drivers. There has been a lot of talk about things getting heated between them. We will look out for that.”

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Fernando Alonso is correct in his summation that judging by current standings, it is going to take a Red Bull-shaped catastrophe for anyone else to stand on the top step of the podium but the Spaniard has so far proven that if that does happen, it will be him up there.

While Aston Martin’s rise from P7 to the podium is impressive because of the speed of their transformation, what is equally impressive is their consistency so far in 2023.

Alonso has finished P3 in every race and, unlike his time at Alpine, the Aston Martin team have suffered just one reliability issue so far.

And who aside from Red Bull can confidently say they are consistently quicker than the Silverstone team?

Ferrari have yet to show any kind of pace and have plenty of reliability issues to worry about and while Mercedes were strong in Melbourne, Alonso was able to glide past Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain.

Mission 33 is at its most achievable since Alonso departed Ferrari and if he can continue to be consistently excellent, maybe, just maybe, luck will be on his side.