Fernando Alonso targeting pole position for the 2023 F1 Monaco GP - "We should be one of the candidates"

Fernando Alonso feels he could be one of the drivers in contention to fight for pole position in the 2023 F1 Monaco GP qualifying. The Spaniard has targeted Monaco as a possible race where Aston Martin could be competitive. The challenger from the Silverstone-based squad is strong but lacks the straigthline efficiency to be competitive against Red Bull.

At Monaco however, Fernando Alonso does not need to worry about that. The consequence of it was on full display as the Spaniard remained competitive in both sessions and was top four in FP2.

Talking to the media after the running on Friday, when questioned if pole position was in play, Fernando Alonso sounded confident and said that it was a possibility. He said:

"It was good. It was a good day for us, I think. We completed the run programme. A couple of red flags that were the same for everybody, but we did enough laps to get confidence with the car, which is very important here – getting into the rhythm of the weekend. The car felt good, easy to drive, which is what you would expect in this kind of circuit, so I’m happy."

He added:

“I came with a lot of confidence already because this car gave me positive things all throughout the year, so it didn’t disappoint today; it was enjoyable to drive, I had fun and I’m ready for tomorrow. I think tomorrow, everything is to play [for] but we should be one of the candidates, yes.”

Fernando Alonso's teammate still looking to find his feet

Fernando Alonso's teammate Lance Stroll was not too confident after Friday. The driver had been playing catch up to his teammate all day and found himself languishing in P11. Looking back at the day's running Stroll said,

“It’s always tricky here with traffic; it’s a short lap and it’s always tricky but we got some good running in today and learnt a lot. We’ll keep working on the car for tonight and see what we can do tomorrow. The car is working well here. It’s definitely behaving well, and I think it’s about tweaking the last few things overnight and seeing what we can do tomorrow."

Alonso will be hoping to crack his first pole position since 2012. The Spaniard has not been on pole position for more than a decade and if he's able to get that done it would certainly be a redemption story after the struggles he's had in his career.