Fernando Alonso knows that beating Red Bull on merit is a near impossible task, but if tensions set in at the championship winning team, it could open the door to the Spaniard's long-awaited 33rd win in F1.
So far, Aston Martin has been the revelation of the 2023 F1 season, with Alonso scoring three consecutive podiums in the first three races of the year.
However, Red Bull's dominant RB19 is in a league of its own and seemingly out of reach from its Aston, Mercedes and Ferrari rivals.
But Alonso says a moment of disorder at Red Bull, or a bit of kerfuffle between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez could hand him an opportunity to slip trough a crack and win.
"Hopefully a win will arrive, the 33rd that has been talked about so much," he told DAZN. "But we have to be realistic.
"We know that the Red Bulls are too far ahead now. But hey, anything can happen.
"A reliability problem, a touch between them. We know there has been a lot of talk about them having a hot environment, so we will pay attention."
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There has indeed been a few tense moments between Verstappen and Perez recently, starting with the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos last year, where the Dutchman defied a team order in the closing stages of the race as payback for Perez ruining Verstappen efforts in qualifying in Monaco last season.
But more recently, in Jeddah, the Mexican who won the race in Saudi Arabia was surprised to learn that his teammate had snatched on the final the bonus point for pole despite being told not to push in the closing stages of the race.
Red Bull's current hegemony implies that the team could be facing a fierce intra-team showdown this season. But team boss Christian Horner doesn't believe thinks will get out of hand between Verstappen and Perez.
"We’ve got two very mature drivers," Horner said after Jeddah. "They’ve worked well together previously.
"We went through the race together beforehand and also discussed the scenario in question as it eventually unfolded.
"About that we said ‘Look, you’re free to race, but the rules of engagement are team first and respect each other, respect the car you’re driving, and we want to bring home maximum points’.
"And they’ve done that."
Still, one Fernando Alonso will be watching, just in case, and will be ready to pounce.
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