MADRID, 25 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) has assured that he will remember 2023 for “arriving at Aston Martin”, for “the podiums” and for feeling “competitive” again, and not for the position he finally occupies in the overall standings of the Drivers’ World Championship after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he will start seventh.
“(The year) I’m going to close it wonderfully. I’m going to think that I’m going to finish seventh in Drivers, Norris and Leclerc are going to overtake me tomorrow, and if there is any improvement in that, fine. But it changes little, I’m not going to remember the 2023 for the final position in the championship, but for the arrival at Aston Martin, the podiums and feeling competitive. The final place is an anecdote. In Constructors it is important, because there is money at stake for the team; in Drivers, there is no money,” he said in statements to DAZN.
The Asturian, currently fifth in the standings, believes he will lose two places overall in favor of the British Lando Norris (McLaren), who starts fifth; and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who comes second. “The Ferrari is again ‘Top 3′ with Leclerc, it is a tremendously superior car to ours at the moment. Lando -Norris- starts in front of me, the McLarens are going very fast, so I think I am going to lose the position with Lando also in the Drivers’ World Championship,” he said.
In this sense, he insisted that what interests them most is the Constructors’ World Cup. “The McLarens start in front of us, third and fifth, and if it is a normal race we don’t have much to do. If there is a race that is a little crazy, there is a ‘safety car’ or a stroke of luck, we are going to try, especially “Everything in the Constructors. I’m afraid of Norris and Leclerc, who I don’t know if he’s 12 or 13 points away, and he comes second and could make the podium. We’re going to have fun, but I think we’ll have our minds on something other than the classification,” he pointed.
Regarding the classification, Alonso confessed that he did not expect to be seventh. “I didn’t expect it, because in FP3 we suffered a little more than we expected. We made some changes last night, because FP2 was very short, and we had a lot of concern. We did 14 and 15 this morning and we didn’t know very well. where we were,” he said.
“In Q1, on the first attempt, I was fifteenth and I thought it was going to be a difficult Saturday. We were progressing along the track, we found grip every time we went out. Starting seventh tomorrow is better than expected,” he concluded. .