“At the beginning of the year, I was voted for nine or 10 points. And now I am four or five. But I am at the same level.”
Given he said this a week on from getting his lowest Autosport race rating score from the 2023 Formula 1 season so far in an off-colour Singapore Grand Prix, we can tell that Fernando Alonso reads our regular driver ratings feature. Or that he checks his own mark at any rate…
But Alonso’s slightly sassy assertion after qualifying his Aston Martin AMR23 10th last time out at Suzuka – the fourth time in seven events he’d started on the fifth row – provides a handily spot-on metaphor for his first season in green.
Yes, when it was clear during the early rounds that Aston was Red Bull’s closest challenger, while Ferrari and Mercedes again erred in their respective car designs and McLaren was still fighting to escape Q1 with the initially sub-par MCL60, Alonso was scooping up plaudits. His run of six podiums during the opening eight events and occasional coaching of team-mate Lance Stroll combined to highlight the imbalance of Aston’s
