Alonso: Aston Martin need to ‘confirm things’ | Ferrari and Merc will be fast
Aston Martin turned heads up and down the paddock with a sublime performance at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix as Alonso claimed a brilliant podium behind the dominant Red Bull cars on his debut with the team.
The AMR23 proved to be the second-fastest car in Bahrain, underlining Aston Martin’s incredible turnaround over the winter after finishing seventh in last year’s constructors’ championship.
Alonso is pleased with the performance of his Aston Martin so far but urged the team still need to prove their competitiveness at a range of different tracks, starting this weekend at the high-speed Jeddah circuit.
“I’m very happy,” Alonso told Sky. “Generally we’ve been performing very well in testing and race one.
“We still need to confirm many things here in Saudi, also in Australia. I think we need to wait and see how the car performs in every circuit but generally, the first step of this project has been done and is a good baseline.
“So I am happy with that and let’s see what we can do from here.”
The two-time world champion is predicting Ferrari and Mercedes to provide a bigger challenge in Saudi Arabia after both teams underperformed with disappointing displays in Bahrain.
“Ferrari were very good at high-speed, at top speed as well, on the straights,” he explained. “So Jeddah will be a strong circuit for Ferrari.
“Mercedes as well, I expect to be fast. Alpine, Alfa Romeo. Within three or four tenths things can change quickly, circuit-to-circuit.
“For us, it is a challenge to set up a car for different conditions to see if we can be competitive here as well.”
