The good feelings of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin already are a reality. All the teams and drivers on the grid recognize him, from Christian Horner (Red Bull) to Toto Wolff (Mercedes), and from Max Verstappen or Carlos Sainz, to Lewis Hamilton, who has been full of praise for the Asturian and the British team after his brilliant qualification for the first race of the year in Bahrain, in which he will start fifth.
“I am very happy for Fernando Alonso”, assured the seven-time champion, who added that the Spaniard “has been here much longer than me and it’s good to have him back in the battle“. For this reason, with the return of the Oviedo to the top of the table, “I hope we have good races”, collects motorsport.com.
The Englishman also praised the work of Aston Martin to create a competitive car for 2023 considering that they are a Mercedes customer team. “They have practically the whole back of our carhalf of our car!”, he pointed out surprised, acknowledging that this “is not very good news for us”.
That part of the back of the W14 has given the German team a lot of problems due to its lack of stability, although it improved a lot in qualifying. “Now it’s better, but still we lack downforce in general”, which puts them a long way behind Red Bull and Ferrari by one lap, while it is still unknown how they will perform in the race. “Until tomorrow (for today) we won’t know, but I hope we can fight in the group in which we are”, explained the Briton, who has been “happy” for Aston Martin. “I think it is amazing to see your progressthe steps they have taken,” he said.
Sainz and Verstappen look askance at Alonso
Carlos Sainz, a Ferrari driver, has also warned about the AMR23, which he does not hesitate to put in the fight: “The truth is that things are tight and tomorrow in the race things are going to changeanything can happen”, he has advanced.
That is why he bets that, “except for Red Bull, who are clear favourites, behind I think the Aston Martin are going to go very strong and the Mercedes in the race always go well too.”
The current champion and great favorite to defend the title, Max Verstappen, also believes that the British team is a great rival and he did not hesitate to mention them when talking about the ‘Scuderia’, that “they are very fast over one lap”, although “in theory we should have more rhythm in the long runs”.
“Aston Martin is very fast, too. It’s great that Fernando is joining the fight. He’s very good for Formula 1. I love seeing him there; and I want to fight him. But above all I want to win,” said the Dutchman.
