Fernando Alonso is clearly very happy with his new home at Aston Martin, with the Spaniard having claimed a sensational podium at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
After a remarkable off-season, Aston Martin have skyrocketed to third in the pecking order, with the Silverstone-based side knocking on the door of Ferrari for second.
Free practice was proof that Aston Martin are to be taken seriously this season, with Alonso having finished in the top two in all three sessions at Bahrain ahead of qualifying.
Remarkably, the car that Aston Martin used at the Bahrain International Circuit is “very basic” according to Alonso, with the side set to bring plenty of upgrades over the coming races.
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With this in mind, the double world champion has warned Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes that Aston Martin have “a lot more to come”, with the Spaniard feeling very “optimistic”.
“Sure, we need to wait for Jeddah, Australia, very different tracks, so I’m curious to see if we can keep this form in different circuits,” Alonso said, as reported by Motorsport.com.
“But, on the other hand, I think the car that we have now is just a very basic car that we launched and we start the season with this completely new concept.
“I think there is a lot more to come in terms of development with this project, so I’m optimistic for that.”
Aston Martin are certainly starting 2023 with a “good baseline”, thanks to incredible work done by the engineers over the winter break.
Team principal Mike Krack is very pleased with the AMR23 and admits it’s easier to “develop” the car this season than it was last season, given that Aston Martin started 2022 with a poor car.
“Last year we managed to get better over the season, but we saw also how hard that is, because of the intensity that you have with racing and cost cap, you’re really tight,” Krack said.
“You need to start with a good baseline because you cannot afford to spend what you have available just on developing.
“That is also why we went aggressive in the targets that we had for the car. Obviously, it’s not always easy to achieve, but our team has managed great things there.
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“It’s much, much easier to develop from this base than to develop from the base we had last year.
“We have our development plan in place, but the others have a plan in place as well.
“It could well be that if you develop at the same rate you stay where you are, so let’s see where we get to.”