Fernando Alonso is unlikely to challenge Max Verstappen for the title this year, his own team boss has admitted.
Aston Martin have been the surprise package on the Formula 1 grid so far this season. In pre-season testing it looked possible they might be competing with the top teams, and they delivered upon those promising signs when the racing action began.
The three races so far this year have all yielded a podium for Alonso, who is behind only the two Red Bull racers in the drivers' standings. Team-mate Lance Stroll has also been scoring strongly despite missing pre-season testing after breaking both his wrists in a cycling accident.
Their AMR23 car is the second quickest on the grid behind only those RB19s. In just one season the Silverstone-based team has made up a second and a half per lap in terms of race pace, with around half a second still separating them from runaway leaders Red Bull.
But even though the gap is smaller than the one they have already made up in such a short amount of time, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack is not holding his breath waiting for a title challenge. He knows there is now much less room to improve and so it is unlikely this will be the year that his team pushes for glory.
"There is a difference between confidence and arrogance," the Luxembourger told Auto Motor und Sport. "We are substantially behind Red Bull. Even if they stood still, the gap would be too big to catch up with them in one season.
"Of course, we take the fastest car as a reference. We just don't go crazy and constantly look at the distances with respect to Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine.
"We have to be realistic. We have to look up, but we also have to look at third and fourth place. Things can change very quickly in the championship. We are not far ahead of Mercedes. As a team you can quickly drop down the leaderboard.
"You can't tell after a race whether you're here or there, you need a little more data to really understand where you are. We started this year on a better footing, so it won't be as easy [to improve] as last year. But we have to make progress if we want to stay where we are. Because even if we don't do anything, we will go backwards."
