Alonso throws down gauntlet to Red Bull: "Matter of time until Aston challenge"
The Aston Martin hype train continued in F1’s two practice sessions for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
- Alonso leads Verstappen in second practice as Aston Martin hype grows
- F1 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix - Friday Practice Results
Alonso topped the more representative evening session by 0.169s clear of reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen.
The Spaniard backed it up in the race simulations, running at a similar pace to Verstappen at the end of the session.
Despite their strong start, Alonso is remaining level-headed about Aston Martin’s prospects in the short term.
“Obviously it is another step in the right direction,” he said after FP2 in Bahrain. “The car feels good. We need to wait and see.
“The focus is not on times. We need to improve some things in terms of set-ups. It is early days. We are changing a lot of things, trying to reinforce the team in every area, not only in the car’s performance. It will be a very interesting process. The team is learning every day.
“Let’s see what happens in the first couple of races. Lawrence has this vision with everything he does - it is very difficult to see him fail at anything he does.
“It is a matter of time until Aston Martin challenges the top teams. It is an interesting process with a new car, a new technical department. We are still learning. There is still a long way to go.”
Alonso will be eyeing his first pole position in over a decade on Saturday, while Aston Martin haven’t won qualifying since their days as Racing Point with Lance Stroll in Turkey.
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