MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) acknowledged that the “fight with Ferrari and Mercedes” for second place in the World Cup is the “priority” right now, although without taking his eyes off Red Bull for the Grand Prix of Austria.
“Logically there are more points on the table to be played on both Saturday and Sunday, but we will keep an eye on Red Bull as well, which will surely be very strong. But the fight with Ferrari and Mercedes for that second place in the championship is the priority. right now for the team”, he said this Thursday in statements to Dazn, collected by Europa Press.
The double world champion, who was second two weeks ago at the Canadian Grand Prix, remains Max Verstappen’s biggest rival, beyond his teammate Sergio Pérez, whom the Spaniard has nine points behind. “That’s more interesting for us. Red Bull is in its own league at the moment. It’s important for us to score points with both cars every weekend and try to keep up the fight with Ferrari and Mercedes, which is obviously still difficult for us. believe,” he confessed.
And it is that the Asturian still keeps his feet on the ground after six podiums in eight races. “We have to wait for different tracks and circuits. Two weeks before Canada, in Barcelona, we were 56 seconds or a minute behind. It was due to the track. It was a very good weekend (Canada) and I hope we can close the gap “, he explained.
The 2023 Austrian GP is marked by the new format of sprint races, with only one free practice session and qualifying, held on Fridays. “We’ll see how it goes. It’s a format that we already saw in Baku that has its risk points, especially in changing conditions, like the ones we expect here, from rain to dry, each session can be an adventure, so we’re going to be ready,” he said.
“We have to see tomorrow in free practice how the car feels and how competitive we can be this weekend. I hope we are closer to what we did in Canada and be able to exploit our (improvement) package, because the “The weekend in Canada was very short after the cancellation of FP1. It’s going to be another very short weekend here, just one practice session, but I hope we can try various things on the car.”