Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023

‘I’d be lying if I said the car doesn’t feel good’ says Alonso after leading practice

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin still have scope to improve after ending the first day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix with the fastest time.

The Aston Martin driver set a best time of 1’30.907 during the second practice session, putting him 0.169 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.

However the two-times world champion insisted he wasn’t focusing on the lap times ahead of the first competitive session of the new season tomorrow.

“Obviously, it feels good to drive,” he said. “I will lie if I say that is not feeling good.

“But everything is relative to what the other teams are doing. You can feel very good on one car and maybe there are three or four cars faster than you and then it doesn’t feel that good anymore. So let’s see where we are.”

The team won’t have a clear picture of how competitive it is for a few more races, Alonso believes. “Obviously it’s good to see the times, that you are competitive.

“After testing there is always a mixed feelings of where you are and still until we go into qualifying and the race and maybe the first three races on very different circuits – Bahrain, Jeddah and Australia.”

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The team still has plenty of scope to improve their performance this weekend, said Alonso. “At the moment we are just concentrating on ourselves,” he explained. “There’s still a lot of things to improve in the car. The balance was not completely perfect today.”

Aston Martin’s best result last year was a trio of sixth-place finishes. Alonso says the team also has room to improve in competing for race wins.

“The team has to change a few things. We are in the process of trying to reinforce every area of the team.

Alexander Albon, Williams, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023
Gallery: 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix practice in pictures
“I have different philosophies from my past. We have Stoffel [Vandoorne, reserve driver] coming also with some different background as well. So we try to regroup everything and be the strongest team possible. So that’s the process we are in now and it’s very interesting.”

Alonso surprised the Formula 1 paddock last year by announcing he was leaving Alpine to join Aston Martin. He credited Lawrence Stroll, who acquired the team five years ago, for turning its fortunes around.

“I think Lawrence has this vision on everything he does. It’s very difficult to see Lawrence Stroll fail on anything that he has into his vision.

“I think it’s a matter of time that Aston Martin could challenge the top teams. We are in a very interesting process with a completely new car, new technical department and a lot of things that we are learning. But I think there is still a long way to go.”

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2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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11 comments on “‘I’d be lying if I said the car doesn’t feel good’ says Alonso after leading practice”

  1. Now, let’s see if Lance and/or the team have the good sense to tell him he has to sit this one out not just for the team, but to ensure his healing doesn’t get compromised and cost him missing more races in the future just for the sake of driving the opener. He clearly doesn’t have the wrist strength to drive a full race distance properly.

    1. When you have a medical condition, it is forbidden to drive a normal car, but what about a race car? If he gets involved in a car crash where he is the one to blame, what situation do we have then?

      1. Charles, that’s a silly way of thinking. You can’t treat a race on a closed circuit like public traffic. It makes no sense.
        You drive in a race to compete, not to be safe. That’s why there are no speed limits on the track.

        1. I think Charles is referring to cause a crash involving other drivers. He can crash himself but he is a special risk for other drivers

    2. I luv chicken
      4th March 2023, 0:07

      It was so refreshing to watch Fred being interviewed after the session. He was trying so hard to keep a sandbagging face, but I feel that inside he was ready to jump out of his skin, from the realization of this year’s potential. Now we just have to see how much the Bulls have been holding back during practice.

  2. BLS (@brightlampshade)
    3rd March 2023, 19:18

    It does seem odd that you can drive with a significant injury and internal metalwork, but not a bit of jewellery.

    1. Could it be that one guy is black and the other white? Hmm, I wonder.

    2. He needs to pass all the usual safety checks. If he can, then he’s good to go as far as the FIA is concerned.

      Whether or not it’s a smart thing for his recovery to get into the car is probably best known to Stoll and his doctor.

      Can’t begrudge him wanting to be in the car when it looks like it’s genuinely competitive for a strong result.

  3. I hope this car is good and Alonso can get that 3rd championship after making some pretty bad decisions.

  4. Can’t believe Alonso has moved to a fast car.

    1. @stjs16 – I know… what can he do with this opportunity, if it lasts season long this could be very interesting.

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