Alonso joined Aston Martin after a dismal 2022 campaign in which the Silverstone team finished seventh with just 55 points.
While it made encouraging development progress throughout last season, its giant leap in 2023 has been one of the talking points of the year so far, with the Spaniard bagging three consecutive podiums as Aston heads to Baku sitting second in the standings.
The team of ambitious billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has the long-term aim of challenging for world titles rather than podiums, and team boss Mike Krack already revealed Stroll had been pushing the team to achieve even more and not sit back after its surprisingly strong start.
But according to Alonso, his new outfit's breakthrough over the winter has shortened its planned trajectory to the top by a year.
"I was hoping 2023 to be a learning season and in 2024 maybe to be challenging Ferrari and Mercedes and things like that," said Alonso.
"But we challenged them in Bahrain in race one so obviously now everything looks more optimistic."
Alonso cautioned that the true test of Aston's progress will follow once rival teams start bringing sizeable upgrades and the team's in-season development rate will be put to the test, a process which will begin in Azerbaijan.
Source: Autosport