Aston Martin, the shiny green team, got a green signal on the first day of Bahrain Pre-Season Testing. The claims made by the team before the inception of the 2023 season were tall and day 1 of testing saw them justify them well. However, the said justification saw the ex-Aston Martin driver, Sebastian Vettel fans with a long faces. The unanimous feeling was that the German perhaps retired three feet from gold.
Vettel’s time on the team was underwhelming and didn’t see him realize his potential. However, the promises the Lawrence Stroll-owned outfit made to Fernando Alonso to bag him in place of retiring Vettel stand firm. The team was seen performing better than Mercedes. While the dark horse story about the green team is already making rounds, the beating Mercedes claim is a tall one. And it may even be possible that the Silver Arrows might be sandbagging. But as the numbers stand, Aston Martin seems like the team to watch out for.
The AMR23 has made an impression on the other teams.
One engineer told #AMuS:
"Maybe they are even ahead of Mercedes at this early stage." #F1Testing
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) February 24, 2023
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But progress cannot be denied and has been a topic of discussion. And even if the team doesn’t dethrone Mercedes, they have it in them to be the best of the rest solely based on the progress and never say die attitude of Lawrence Stroll.
Fans can’t help but wonder if Sebastian Vettel retired too early
The fans of the retired German, Sebastian Vettel, couldn’t help but feel the pain of the team making upward progress after their favorite hung his boots. Some comments of fans being emotional are as follows:
For real Tami it’s absolute pain😭
— Noon⁰⁵⁴⁴ (@FormulaSewis) February 24, 2023
Me a Seb fan who had witnessed AMR21 and AMR22 clownery pic.twitter.com/F5Qa8Ii2gx
— Noon⁰⁵⁴⁴ (@FormulaSewis) February 24, 2023
Aston Martin becoming serious after Seb's retirement pic.twitter.com/Sh5NXHxoOj
— Manahil 🖤🏆 (@Reina_Asllani) February 24, 2023
This just makes me sad as Seb Fan 🙁
— Chris | Danke Seb (@_M4ngo_) February 24, 2023
While everyone appreciated the step Aston Martin has made, some from the F1 world still had a hard time believing it.
— Tivs (@Tivel_farrell) February 24, 2023
The sandbagging allegations against Mercedes were put out there in subtle hints of skepticism.
It does look like the Aston is slightly ahead of the Merc, but i wouldn't be jumping to conclusions too much until next week qualifying in Bahrain
— Skidmark (@FrAnkenstien978) February 24, 2023
Some discarded the whole idea, saying the progress isn’t real. While others took a direct dig at the Silver Arrows.
Yeah, sorry, but that won't happen. Aston will finish p4 at best. you don't gain over a second on the other teams during winter without major regulation changes
— Stefan @McTowelie@sueden.social (@BlindGuardian6) February 24, 2023
That’s not that impressive when Merc look terrible
— just-being-me-98 (@JustSomeMe98) February 24, 2023
A few even went on to credit the new man on the team, Fernando Alonso.
Alonso effect
— 𝕯𝖊𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝕱𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖆𝖗𝖎 𝖋𝖆𝖓 (@idk_reborn) February 24, 2023
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But a tweet pointed exactly at the reason why the Aston Martin might be doing well.
Dan Fallows, ex rbr aerodynamicist. Had to happen.
— Vvk (@vvk_blc) February 24, 2023
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If the proclamations are real, is it possible that Aston Martin has really done it this time around? Can they make a jump from finishing seventh last year to possibly being at the top team this season? Let us know your thought in the comments section.