F1 Bahrain GP: “This is just unreal,” DRIVER OF THE DAY Fernando Alonso ecstatic with his P3 finish in Aston Martin debut
Fernando Alonso has started his Aston Martin career in fine style: By taking the 99th podium finish of his career in just the first race.
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Fernando Alonso
It’s happened: Now, it seems as if ‘EL PLAN’ is in full swing. Spanish fans were starving for it, Aston Martin fans were starving for it, and perhaps the whole Formula 1 world was: Fernando Alonso is back on the podium, his first since Qatar 2021. While that may have been a one-off for him in 2021, it seems that in 2023, Aston Martin are here to stay. His teammate, Lance Stroll, finished P6, which is very impressive considering he’s not fully recovered from his cycling accident.
Many doubted Alonso moving to Aston Martin as another bad career move in a series of bad career moves. But it seems the doubters will be proven wrong. Ferrari, and Carlos Sainz in particular, had been wary of the threat posed by Alonso from behind. The Ferrari man thought Alonso could be on the same pace, or even quicker than them. Looks like he was proven right: Alonso overtook him on lap 45, and then stretched the gap to more than 9 seconds until the chequered flag.
Considering all this, the 41-year-old found it hard to hide his delight at this 99th podium finish. And he even found space to congratulate his teammate who came to hug him in the middle of the interview. (Stroll had earlier ran into the back of Alonso on lap 1). Speaking to Nico Rosberg post-race in Bahrain, Alonso said: “Yeah, first of all, congratulations to my teammate, Lance [Stroll], he had surgery 12 days ago and now he’s fighting right with everybody.”
Aston Martin’s performance is definitely the big surprise of 2023. The team looked good in pre-season testing, and Alonso had earlier touted that they were faster than Ferrari in the long runs. Even despite that early incident, he was able to recover and finish in front of Sainz. He added: “So yeah, amazing for the team. It was a great weekend and finishing on the podium in the first race of the year, it’s just amazing, you know, what Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second-best car on race one. This is just unreal.”
Fernando Alonso now looking forward to Jeddah
Fernando Alonso had two amazing battles: One with Lewis Hamilton and one with Carlos Sainz. The first reminded many of the days of old, and of 2007. The Spaniard overtook his old teammate with a brilliant move into turn 10 on lap 38, and then set off after his compatriot. On lap 45, he was able to overtake Sainz, though the two collided a bit earlier. Thankfully for both, it was not a race-ending contact.
Asked how it felt to battle those two, the Spaniard said: “Yeah, obviously, I would’ve loved to start in front of them and use the pace, but we had not the best of starts today and we had to pass on track. It felt a little bit more exciting, more adrenaline for sure. People enjoyed, we did enjoy as well, so let’s go into Jeddah.” asked if the increased wind tunnel time Aston Martin have compared to their rivals will help them, Alonso was cheeky: “I hope so, but we will not get much next year.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Aston Martin can maintain this performance and form and build on their result in Bahrain. Ferrari and Mercedes certainly won’t sit still in the meantime – no one will. The first stage is passed, and the team certainly have the credentials to compete at the front. Alonso has earlier hinted that it’s just the beginning – they’ll get even better as more developments arrive. This, combined with the wind tunnel time warning, means rivals must be wary of the threat posed by the ascendant British team.
In case you missed it:
- F1 Bahrain GP: “The biggest clown in F1” – Fans blame Lance Stroll for first lap incident with Fernando Alonso
- Who won the F1 Bahrain GP 2023?
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)