Surprisingly Close to Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso Plays Coy on Blistering Aston Martin Pace: “We’re Still Trying”

After a season where rivals struggled to match the pace of Red Bull, many expected Mercedes and Ferrari to take the fight to the Austrian team in 2023. While we still expect that to be the case when the season officially starts, signs look positive for an unexpected contender. Aston Martin has registered a remarkable comeback on the first day of testing in Bahrain. At the center of it all, is none other than their new signing, the experienced campaigner, Fernando Alonso. Only by a whisker, the Spaniard missed out on the fastest lap of the day, only behind the reigning champion Max Verstappen. However, being a man who demands nothing but excellence from his team, he feels some issues still need to be ironed out before we finally hear the words, “It’s lights out, and away we go!” once again.

Alonso and Aston Martin’s newfound success may have come as a surprise to many. However, the buzz around their new car being a harbinger of change in their fate has been around for a while now. Alonso indicated exactly that in his comments lately but faced ridicule at the hands of F1 fans. However, soon came in the numbers from the wind tunnel that confirmed the claims were not unfound.

While reacting to their performance on the first day of testing, Motorsport Turkiye quoted Fernando as saying, “I am generally happy with the first official test day we held in Bahrain with the AMR23.” [Translated using Google]

“We reached 100 laps in total as a team. Despite some minor issues we had to resolve, it was a strong start to the first day.”

“We’re still trying a lot of different things, so every lap is important and we learn something new about the car every time we hit the circuit.”

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The two-time champion hopes the team will take the learnings from the day to make the car better for the season.

Fernando Alonso enjoyed the process of getting the car to where it is today

Every team in F1 looks to strike a balance of experience and youth in their driver lineup. Aston Martin has got that combination nailed in their lineup of Alonso and Lance Stroll. Alonso’s responsibility to contribute towards the development of the car with feedback is a lot more than his counterpart, given that he is the senior partner in this relationship. That is an experience and responsibility that he has enjoyed thus far.

Speaking further after the first day of testing, he told, “These first steps are always interesting and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the preparations we’ve made so far.”

“We will use the knowledge and learning we have learned today to make the situation better tomorrow.”

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If the car and drivers continue to perform in the season the way they are currently, things only look up for Aston Martin after what was a thoroughly disappointing 2022 for them.