Alonso: Aston Martin deserved F1 2023 win "more than anyone else"

Alonso jumped ship from Alpine to Aston Martin for 2023 and was rewarded for his bold move with a competitive car that yielded six podiums across the first eight races of the season.

He then added two more podium berths after the summer break to finish fourth in the drivers' championship, on equal points with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

His tally of eight podiums puts the Spaniard third behind runaway champion Verstappen and his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, and one top-three finish ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, for total rostrum visits in 2023.

But despite only taking three second places compared to six for Norris, Alonso believes his team would have deserved a win the most after its progress compared to 2022.

His closest call came in Monaco, where only a superb final sector from Verstappen kept Alonso from pole, and therefore a golden chance to convert it into a win on the twisty street layout.

A disputed call during the grand prix to pit for mediums on a track that was getting wet then further robbed him of an opportunity to get ahead of the Dutchman.

"I think it was possible. Probably Monaco was the closest," Alonso said. "Just maybe a tyre call change or something [would've made the difference]. Maybe Zandvoort, if we were in a different position in that restart or something.

"We had opportunities here and there. And I believe that we deserved it more than anyone else this year."

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, the rest of the field at the start

While McLaren took over from Aston Martin as the season's surprise package after the summer break, Alonso still sees "only positives" from 2023 despite his team's puzzling lack of form towards the end of the year.

That loss of competitiveness dropped it to fifth behind the Woking squad, and according to Alonso showed the Silverstone team can't be called a top outfit just yet.

"I see only positives and those struggles I think are part of the job and part of the journey of this team," the 42-year-old explained. "We started really strong with the car that was surprisingly competitive, maybe even to us the step from last year to this year [was a surprise].

"And then we found ourselves maybe in a position that we were not ready for it. Fighting with Mercedes, Ferrari, top teams that they are used to fighting at that level. We maybe stepped back a little bit in terms of development on the car during the season.

"We are not at the top level yet and we found ourselves a little bit less competitive. But all in all it was unthinkable 12 months ago at this stage to think about the campaign we did.

"I remember perfectly the test last year after [Abu Dhabi] with the team and if someone had told me that we would be in this position, I would not have believed it."

Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas