Aston Martin WILL dominate the Formula 1 world in the future, in the eyes of Sky Sports commentator David Croft.
Red Bull ran away with the title last year and are threatening an even more dominant victory this season. All six races so far have been won by the Milton Keynes-based outfit with little competition of note coming from their traditional rivals.
With Mercedes and Ferrari struggling for competitiveness, Aston Martin have emerged from the midfield to become their closest challengers. Fernando Alonso has been leading that charge with 93 points and five podiums to his name so far in 2023.
Aston Martin have delivered a competitive car, have hired scores of top staff from rival team and are building new state-of-the-art facilities at their Silverstone base. With all that in mind, Croft is confident that title challenges are in the team's future.
"There'll be a wind tunnel to come as well. There'll be a conference centre eventually on that. There'll be an engine project with Honda. They'll be making their own gearboxes," he said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. "They'll no longer be getting technical support from other people. They'll be doing it all themselves.
"With that comes challenges, but with that comes a lot more advanced information as to where the mounting points for the engine are going to be on the chassis, for instance. They could be, and I think they will be, the next Red Bull in Formula 1 – they've got the vision, they've got the money, they've got the strategy, they've got the people."
In Monaco last weekend, Alonso secured his best result for the season so far by finishing second behind Max Verstappen. While he spent the whole race behind the Dutchman, he showed enough pace to limit the race leader's pit strategy options and they were both miles ahead of anyone else on the track.
Asked by Mirror Sport after the race if Alonso and Aston Martin are the most likely challengers to his team, Christian Horner said: "They're the closest to us but you can see the rest of the field is a long way behind.
"It was only Fernando who was able to stay in touch with Max, to keep within the pit stop window and to be dancing around that safety car window as well. It's always great leveller when the circuit is a bit damp or the conditions vary – then you see how the drivers adapt and you can see both of those two guys, they were head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
"It's great to see his confidence and the way he's driving the car. He and Max are very similar in many respects – in the way they drive and how tenacious they are, they're always pushing. You can see that they enjoy that competition as well."
