The double World Champion Aston Martin Formula One driver Fernando Alonso gave his top five races of the 2023 season.
Fernando Alonso finished the 2023 season in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. While it is only the seventh-best result in his F1 career, Alonso marked the 2023 season as the best alongside 2012.
The Spanish Matador achieved eight podiums, which exceeded the expectations of every single person in the paddock and proved he still isn't too old for F1. As quoted by motorsport.com, he said:
"I'm happy with the personal performance. I think together with 2012, it's the best season for me in my driving and I was happy with everything – motivated, I was fit, I was performing in difficult conditions sometimes."
When asked to name the five best races of the 2023 season, the 42-year-old unsurprisingly named some of the races in which he achieved the podium. However, he also included Monza where he finished only in P9.
"Bahrain, Monaco, Canada, Monza and Brazil would be my top five of the year. And I put Monza on purpose because it was a ninth place."
Bahrain Grand Prix was the first race of the season, and Alonso managed to finish 3rd, achieving his first podium ever since Qatar 2021.
During the Monaco Grand Prix, the Spaniard had a chance to compete for the race win but finished second because of an unfortunate race strategy. Nevertheless, it was an amazing race by the Spaniard.
Canadian Grand Prix was one of his three second-place finishes, and in Sao Paulo, the 42-year-old snatched the third place from Sergio Perez on the final lap by a mere 0,053 seconds.
While Alonso barely achieved ninth place and two points during the Italian Grand Prix, he explained it was one of his top races because Aston Martin was the slowest car, and he squeezed everything out of it.
"It was not a podium, it was nothing that people will remember, but probably we had the slowest car in Monza or the second slowest, and to be in the points was one of those weekends where everything was very good."