Fernando Alonso ‘hopes’ to deny Lance Stroll one thing at Aston Martin in 2024

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Fernando Alonso ‘hopes’ to deny Lance Stroll the chance to be the first Aston Martin driver to win a Formula 1 race as he states points are the absolute minimum in 2024.

The 42-year-old enjoyed a fantastic start to his time at the Silverstone outfit last year. Alonso quit Alpine after the 2022 F1 season to replace Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. It proved to be a fantastic decision as he took six podium finishes in the first eight Grand Prix of the year.

But Alonso only returned to the rostrum twice over the following 14 rounds of the campaign last term. While Stroll recorded his best finish of the year with P4 at the Australian GP. Aston Martin would not maintain their position as rivals to Red Bull through the development race.

Fernando Alonso led Aston Martin to fifth in the 2023 F1 constructors’ championship

Alonso and Aston Martin even looked likely to threaten Red Bull for the race win at the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP. The Spaniard was 0.122 seconds slower in Q2 than pace-setter, Sergio Perez. But he finished that meet 20.728 seconds off the Mexican with Max Verstappen in P2.

Rival teams Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren finding larger gains in the development race also saw the Silverstone squad slip back. But Alonso came home 9.570 seconds from race winner Verstappen at the Canadian GP and also only 3.744 seconds at the rain-affected Dutch GP.

Alonso’s results throughout the year were enough to get P4 in the drivers’ championship, as well. Stroll could only manage P10 with the 25-year-old scoring 74 points to the 206 that his teammate posted. The Canadian did not seal points in 10 of the 22 rounds to Alonso’s three.

Fernando Alonso sets his sights on winning Aston Martin their first Formula 1 race

Now, having sealed more podiums in 2023 than the Oviedo native had taken in his previous seven Formula 1 seasons combined, Alonso believes points-paying finishes are the absolute minimum for Aston Martin. It is also possible to steer the Silverstone squad to the top spot.

The two-time F1 champion expects several teams to be in with a chance of winning a Grand Prix in 2024. But being the driver who secures Aston Martin their first-ever Formula 1 win is proving very appealing for Alonso as he looks to beat Stroll to the historic accolade this year.

“I think we have to be regularly in the points first, fighting for podiums or be a contender for podiums, as we did last year,” Alonso said, via Sky Sports. “Then, if we are in that position, it would be lovely to achieve the first victory in green for Aston Martin.

“Hopefully, I can be behind the wheel [in] that moment… But we have to go step by step. It’s going to be very tight. There are four or five teams who will be within two or three-tenths of a second this year I bet.

“So, that will put you within two-tenths of a second of fighting for podiums or fighting out of the top 10. So, we need to be really focused on that.”

Aston Martin previously raced in Formula 1 during the 1959 and 1960 seasons. But the team pulled the plug on their project without scoring a single point. They also did not return until 2021 after Lawrence Stroll, Lance’s dad, bought Force India and renamed them Racing Point.

Has the Silverstone-based F1 team ever won a Grand Prix?

While Aston Martin have never won a Grand Prix, the Formula 1 team the British brand took over in 2021 has. The Silverstone-based outfit’s routes date back to 1991 when Eddie Jordan founded Jordan GP, which became Midland in 2006, Spyker in 2007 and Force India in 2008.

Jordan saw his F1 team win four Grand Prix through Damon Hill at the 1998 Belgian GP, plus Heinz-Harald Frentzen with the 1999 French GP and Italian GPs and Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2003 Brazilian GP. But Midland and Spyker each failed to win a single race in Formula 1.

Force India also failed to win a Grand Prix before the F1 team was rebranded as Racing Point in 2019. But Perez handed the Silverstone-based team their most recent victory at the 2020 Sakhir GP, despite failing to last place after the first lap, before then joining Red Bull in 2021.