Fernando Alonso picks surprise F1 midfielder to 'stand out' in 2023 F1 Italian GP podium battle

Fernando Alonso feels Ferrari and Williams are the two teams to keep an eye on for this weekend's podium battle in the 2023 F1 Italian GP.

The track in Monza is extremely specific when it comes to demands from the cars. The long straights mean that one of the major demands of the cars will be to have great top speeds.

That is one area where Williams, especially in the hands of Alex Albon, has been exceptional. When it comes to the speed traps, the car has been impressive all season. Ferrari has also shown impressive pace on tracks with low downforce settings. Charles Leclerc got the pole position in Spa, a track with somewhat similar demands, and even secured a podium finish.

As quoted by Autosport, Fernando Alonso believes that both Ferrari and Williams are potential podium contenders this weekend. He said:

“They will be fast. I think two teams in our numbers will stand out here. One is Williams, with the top speed that they showed through the season, and the other one will be Ferrari."

He added:

"Like in Canada, these long straights, short corners, chicanes and things like that, they are super-fast. So those two teams will be, I think, the biggest challenge for us in terms of competitiveness, and they could fight for the podium between them.”

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Fernando Alonso reflects on the lean patch before the summer break

The Aston Martin driver looked back at the lean patch before the summer break as well. Fernando Alonso secured an impressive podium in Canada but after that race, the team struggled to compete for something even remotely close to it. The Spaniard said (via Autosport):

"I don't know. Sometimes you start the weekend and you feel the car is not responding to your inputs. You're not comfortable on the way in to the corners or you feel something that is not connected to the car. And then you start changing a few things on the set-up, and you're just improving one axle and making worse the other axle."

He added:

“You're just living on a fine line, but you are never happy. So it happened too often in July, especially. It could be down to the car performance, to the package that we were running at that time. There were a couple of different thoughts of our difficulties in that month, but there is no clear explanation.”

Fernando Alonso now has seven podiums to his name this season and will be hoping to build on that streak this weekend.