from https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-predicts-changing-f1-pecking-order-in-time-for-european-races/10454682/

Alonso predicts changing F1 pecking order in time for European races
The 2023 Formula 1 season has now entered a “very interesting” phase
where the competitive order will change much more frequently as the
development war unfolds, according to Fernando Alonso.
Matt Kew
Co-author:
Alex Kalinauckas
Apr 10, 2023, 12:55 AM

Alonso predicts changing F1 pecking order in time for European races
While Red Bull has enjoyed a perfect record of three wins across the
opening races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, in the latter
event Mercedes replaced Aston Martin as the second-best team.

But the cancellation of a return to China has now left a four-week gap
in the calendar until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, across 28-30 April.

Given the pause and then a return to Europe after a run of flyaway
races, teams are expected to debut their first major car upgrades
packages in Baku.

The introduction of new performance-enhancing components will open the
door to the competitive order changing much more often as the season
wears on, reckons Alonso.

Asked by Motorsport.com whether falling behind Mercedes in Melbourne had previewed a nip-and-tuck battle between Aston and the Three-Pointed
Star, the double world champion said: “It seems that qualifying is quite important now, because race pace is very similar, and I think now we
enter into a part of the season that is going to be very interesting:
which team is developing the car faster?

“I think the first three races being away from Europe, it’s difficult to bring upgrades and things like that. But from now on, maybe we see the
level of the teams changing a little bit, race-by-race, depending on who
brings an upgrade that is good enough.”

McLaren, for example, has promised a significant update to its limited
MCL60 in Baku, although has played down expectations of an immediate hit
for its disappointing start to the season.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has teased promising-looking aerodynamic parts that
are currently being tested in the wind tunnel and changes to the
suspension set-up to boost mechanical grip.

But motorsport boss Toto Wolff says these updates will not feature until
the Emilia Romagna GP in late May at the earliest.

Two-time champion Alonso indicated that even if his Aston team lost out
in the development war, it could already be considered a successful
season for the squad after he scored a hat-trick of podiums.

Alonso continued: “It’s all happy days at the moment. We never expected
to be on the podium, maybe even throughout the season, and in three
races we have three. So, everything that comes now is a plus.

He added: “We take every opportunity and we need to learn and we need to
grow as a team also maybe now off-track because we are racing against
Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari - teams that are used to this kind of pace
of development and things like that.

“Maybe we are just in a learning process. So, we take this 2023 in a
very humble manner and let’s see how it's going.”

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