Fernando Alonso said his team Aston Martin is still not performing at the fullest of its capabilities.
The World Champion scored six podiums in the eight opening races of the 2023 season. However, the team struggled to maintain that form for the rest of the year, falling behind the top teams.
Despite the later struggles, Alonso said that he “see[s] only positives.”
“Those struggles, I think, are part of the job and part of the journey of this team. We started really strong with a car that was surprisingly, maybe, more competitive – even to us, the step from last year [2022] to this year [2023].
“And then we found ourselves maybe in a position that we were not ready for, fighting with Mercedes, Ferrari… You know, top teams,” he said.
“They are used to fighting at that level. So yeah, maybe we stepped back a little bit in terms of developments, also in the car during the season.”
When he analized the season as a whole, Alonso said that Aston Martin is “not at the top level yet.”
“We found ourselves a little bit less competitive but, all in all, I think it was unthinkable 12 months ago, at this stage, to think about the campaign we did.”
Aston Martin finished the 2023 season as the fifth best team on the grid with a total of 280 points, an improvement from 2022 when they achieved 7th place with 55 points.