Having finished in seventh place in both of their seasons in F1 so far, nobody would have expected Aston Martin to be fighting for podiums right at the start of 2023.
The team have poached a lot of their staff from the big teams in recent years, gathering a pool of talented and experienced individuals to help them design their cars.
The AMR23 strongly resembles the RB18, with Aston Martin clearing tapping into technical director Dan Fallows’ knowledge from his time working as Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics.
Over the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Aston Martin proved to be faster than Ferrari and Mercedes but were unable to challenge Red Bull for the race win.
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Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has called for his team to remain humble after their strong start to the season, suggesting that the gap to Red Bull is a large one for the team to bridge.
“I think the gap is still substantial,” he said via Autosport.
“We don’t know how much management that Red Bull had to do and did. I think it was quite comfortable for them to just get the mandatory tyres through and cruise the race to the end.
“So I think we have now one good result, we have improved our car.
“But we are fighting here with teams that are used to drive on the front, they are very used to high intensity development. So I think let’s be respectful and humble, and see how it continues.”
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Fernando Alonso has also warned Aston Martin against getting overconfident, explaining that the next two races will present completely different challenges to the team.
While the AMR23 was well suited to the track in Bahrain, the styles of racetrack in Saudi Arabia and Australia may not bring the same fortunes.
Alonso has explained that should Aston Martin perform well in the next two races, the team could be in for a very successful season.