Alonso downplays Ferrari positive as Singapore question raised

Fernando Alonso believes too much should not be read into the fact that Ferrari was able to lead Red Bull for 14 laps in the Italian Grand Prix.

At Monza, pole-sitter Carlos Sainz was able to keep Max Verstappen's RB19 behind for the first stage of the race, before the World Champion slipped past on Lap 15.

Fresh power units were taken by the Scuderia at its home track with Alonso believing it should not give any false hope that Red Bull can be caught on a weekend the Aston Martin could only manage 10th place in the race.

This was because of the low-drag nature of the circuit not playing to the strengths of the package and highlighting a major weakness of the AMR23, but Alonso is also unsure of where the field will stack up in Singapore - a track which should suit the Silverstone-based squad.

Alonso unsure about Ferrari

"No, this is a Ferrari track and has been for a few years," Alonso told media including RacingNews365.

"They put new power units in, it is always this kind of thing for this race, but the championship is 22 races."

The next race is the Singapore Grand Prix on September 17th - a race won by Red Bull and Sergio Perez in 2022.

"Singapore will be better than Monza for sure, but to win, we know how tough it is with Red Bull being outstanding every Sunday.

"Let's see if we are one of the contenders for Singapore, and every weekend, the order [behind Red Bull] seems to change.

"The last two street circuits, Alpine was very strong in Monaco with Esteban [Ocon] P3 in qualifying and the race.

"In Baku, it was was Ferrari dominating with Leclerc on pole position."