Miami makes Aston Martin hopeful of catching Red Bull

Fernando Alonso says he is hopeful that Aston Martin can catch up to Red Bull at some tracks in 2023 after finishing closer to the dominant team in Miami.

The Aston Martin driver ended the race 26 seconds off Sergio Perez at the finish, which is just six seconds slower than their finish at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Even though the gap appears to have increased and Red Bull had more pace as they were saving fuel towards the end, Alonso believes it will be tough but is counting on some upgrades to bring them closer.

"I think the year is going to be difficult. The gap is quite big even though I think today has been our best race pace yet in the season," he told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"We finished closest to the leaders, [with] no Safety Cars, nothing in the race and we’re still quite fast. So let's see. The season is going to be long.

"Hopefully some of the tracks we will be a little bit closer to them. And some of the upgrades that we will bring later in the season maybe put us in a different or more competitive position."

Alonso: Main focus trying to keep Mercedes and Ferrari behind

Aston Martin have done a good job at keeping both Mercedes and Ferrari behind, with the race in Azerbaijan the only weekend where Alonso and Lance Stroll struggled with DRS problems.

The team are currently on 102 points in the Constructors' Championship, six points ahead of Mercedes. Alonso says this is the main focus for them while accepting that Red Bull – who are over 100 points ahead of them on 224 – have done a better job than everyone else.

"I think our main focus, to be honest, is just looking behind and trying to keep Mercedes and Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship under control," he said.

"But I think Red Bull, we have to accept they are doing a better job than everyone else and we need to do a better job."