Aston Martin had ‘no chance to win’ regardless of tyre call - Alonso

The Spaniard finished over a pit stop behind Max Verstappen in a rain-hit race at Monaco but Aston Martin appeared to miss a chance to potentially end Red Bull’s winning streak in 2023. 

Alonso pitted for slick tyres despite rain falling and was forced to make a second visit to the pits to switch onto intermediates as the downpour intensified during a dramatic phase of the race. 

Asked if the extra stop had cost him a potential win in Monte Carlo, Alonso replied: “I had this question in the TV pen as well and I was surprised a little bit. 

“I didn’t lead the race from the cockpit as probably you saw from the outside. For me it was very clear that the track on that lap we stopped was completely dry, apart from Turn 7 and 8. 

“So how I will I put the inters? It was completely dry, 99 percent of the track. So I stop for dries. 

“The weather forecast [said there] was a small shower and a small quantity of rain as well. We had a lot of margin behind to put on the dry tyres and if necessary [make another stop for] the inter tyres. 

“Maybe it was extra safe, I don’t know. But that minute and a half it took to go through Turn 5, 6, 7 and 8 it changed completely again. 

“So the outlap on the dry tyres, it was very wet when I got to those corners. But the lap that we stop, it was completely dry.”

The two-time world champion secured his and Aston Martin’s best result of the season with his distant second place, marking his fifth podium finish in six races so far this year. 

“We are P2 and we very, very happy with the race, because the P1 was very, very fast,” Alonso added. 

“In any tyre, in any condition, Max was always 15 or 20 seconds in front of us.

“So there was no chance to win today."