Alonso draws comparison with Brawn GP: 'Aston Martin made even bigger step'

When asked by Formula1.com whether he has ever seen an F1 team make such a move, Alonso cited Ferrari and Brawn GP as examples. The latter left a deep impression by winning both the constructors' title and the drivers' title with Jenson Button in its first - and only - year of participation.

"Ferrari when it was 2020, they were very bad, or 2021, then in the following year – last year – they were fighting for the championship, or won the first two or three Grands Prix of the year, so Ferrari made a huge step last year. [There was also] Brawn GP – huge," says the 41-year-old Spaniard.

'Step by Aston Martin even bigger than Ferrari and Brawn GP'

Yet Alonso thinks Aston Martin's step ahead of 2023 is even bigger. "With a non-regulation change, [Aston Martin’s is] probably the biggest one. All the others, they were with the regulation change, plus with the cost cap it’s very difficult to do something like that, but we have very talented people in the team – so far it’s been a good start and hopefully only the start."

In 2009, Ross Brawn took over the ailing Honda Racing F1 Team, where he had been team boss until then, for a token sum of one pound. The sum came through guarantees about the team's future funding and the fact that there was no need to cut the workforce. After the successful 2009 season, Mercedes-Benz took over the majority of the shares and the team was renamed.