F1 | Alonso: “Fast and I'm surprised. The AMR24 now works”

Calling Aston Martin a surprise after a more than good 2023 seems really out of place. Yet what Fernando Alonso showed in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix leads one to think that, instead, the sixth place obtained yesterday is certainly not an expected result, especially after the difficulties noted during the three days of winter testing always carried out on the track of Sakhir.

The AMR24, on the last day of testing carried out last week, seemed to have made a decisive step forward thanks to a better set-up, a compromise found which allowed Fernando to make small steps forward which however became evident at least on the flying lap on the day of Yesterday.

“It was a nice surprise to see how competitive we were”; declared the native of Oviedo at the end of the official test in Bahrain. “After the winter tests we had some doubts in terms of pace on the flying lap. In free practice the car was different, we felt more competitive. Usually, however, during free practice and testing perhaps a less efficient engine mapping is used. powerful and the truth only comes out in qualifying”.

“So we were very cautious about our chances and found ourselves quite competitive in Q1, in Q2 and then in Q3. Now we are in the group. Within a tenth we are together with Ferrari, we are ahead of Hamilton and we are with the McLarens. It was a great surprise and a great satisfaction.”

As for long runs, Alonso thinks the AMR24 still has progress to make. The tests weren't so comforting and, even though things went better in free practice, he doesn't seem to have the necessary confidence even though he's thinking of a very hard-fought race even for the top ranks. This year, Aston Martin will have to try to avoid the development mistakes made last year to have a season less full of ups and downs.

“Let's see, I think we did some so-so long runs in the winter and even yesterday we didn't go particularly well. But let's say that tomorrow will be an extremely close race. Racing in a group of cars is never an easy thing to manage in terms of tires and things like that. So we'll see how to handle these problems. It's a very, very good start. A little unexpected, but we accept it.”

“Last year we learned everything there is to learn in a team, how to be a competitor for big things. If we want to compete with Ferrari, Mercedes and these teams, we have to increase the level of development over the course of the season. season. We started with a good basic car, but we were stuck there for a lot of races. This year we changed the design concept of the car, updates and things like that. So, starting strong brings me a lot of optimism for the future “.

The compromise found in the tests made the AMR24 more sincere and responsive to every change. The race has yet to be played, but Alonso sees a less problematic start to the season than he thought just 7 days ago.

“I think the car was better prepared. Last week, in testing, we had some difficulty really feeling the car and its demands. It was quite inconsistent. It was also very windy, which never makes testing easy. But I think doing sessions on the same day with hot and cold, the sensations are different.”

“But this weekend all the set-up changes we make do exactly what we expect of them. And this is always a positive aspect when trying to tune an F1 car to get the maximum. So the level of I think the extra confidence in the car was the positive aspect of this weekend.”