Fernando Alonso has identified this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix as one of his best chances to claim an F1 race win this season.
The Spaniard has recorded four podium positions from the opening five races, while the Silverstone-based squad has emerged as Red Bull’s most consistent challenger.
It’s filled the 41-year-old with renewed vigour, and saw him scarcely able to contain his enthusiasm for the weekend when speaking to the media on Thursday.
“If I tell you I don’t come here thinking that I can win the race, I will lie to you because this is a one-off opportunity,” he said.
“We know Monaco, Singapore, they are specific racetracks that you need to gain the confidence on the free practice, get closer and closer to the walls.
“I will attack more than any other weekend.”
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Alonso’s optimism is not borne out of any significant improvement from his car, but that an imperfect weekend for his rivals – and their willingness to take risk – leaves Aston Martin well placed to capitalise.
“They’re better than everyone else,” Alonso reasoned of Red Bull.
“They did a better job, and they are dominating the season, and they deserve it.
“But we know there are a couple of weekends like this one that I come here thinking that I will try to win.
“Maybe it’s our worst weekend, and we’re out of the points, you never know, this is a very specific circuit.
“But there’s these one-off opportunities that we try to maximise.
“We saw a gearbox failure for Max in Saudi in Q2, [Red Bull] had problems in Checo’s [Perez’s] car in Australia, free practice and qualifying – if one of those things happens on Sunday, automatically you close the gap massively.”
Success in Monaco would cap off a big week for Aston Martin, which announced a new partnership with Honda on Wednesday, starting in 2026.
Alonso has twice won in Monaco, in 2006 and 2007, for Renault and McLaren respectively.
His last grand prix success came in the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix while racing for Ferrari.
Opening practice in Monaco begins at 13:30 local time on Friday (21:30 AEST).
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