Fernando Alonso Scores Stunning Podium In Aston Martin Debut

Fernando Alonso has had a stunning debut with his new Aston Martin team, finishing in third place in the Bahrain Grand Prix to get his 2023 F1 Season off to the best possible start.

“It’s a perfect start for this project. We didn’t expect to be that competitive. I think the aim in 2023 was to get in the mix with the midfield, maybe leading that midfield and get close to the top three teams eventually.

“Even a podium maybe was not on the radar in 2023, and we found ourselves with the second best car today in Bahrain, of the whole weekend, just behind Red Bull. This is a little bit of a surprise, but we are extremely proud, happy with the job done at Silverstone in the factory.

“A big congratulations to everyone. Let’s enjoy this moment and build from here hopefully a good 2023 campaign, and get closer and closer to the top guys.”

“Let’s see. I had this same feeling from testing, like too good to be true, and you’re always expecting that… you will get a step back and you will get back to reality. But it seems real, the performance.

“Let’s see in Jeddah. I’m curious to go to Jeddah and Australia – very different circuits. I think in Bahrain we were strong in things that maybe we don’t find in Jeddah and Australia. If we are strong in the next two races, I think we will have a very good 2023.”

“I obviously enjoyed it, because I ended up in front, that’s always the same thing in any battle. It’s always the same when you fight at the front; with these great drivers, great champions it is a little bit more intense, a little bit more adrenalin, when you are wheel-to-wheel.”

“I didn’t want to have any mistake or any contact because obviously when you are P12 you lose nothing but today we were fighting for big things. I was happy, the car was nice to drive – that was probably our strength all through testing and this weekend.

“Even though the race felt very long [in] the last 10 laps, because I wanted to see the chequered flag and be on the podium, the car was very good to drive and I could have driven for another hour or something, just alone on track,” said Alonso.