When Aston Martin joined Formula 1 in 2021 as a rebrand of Racing Point, big things were expected of the team, who were being funded by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
Unfortunately, the team have so far failed to live up to the hype in F1, with back-to-back seventh place finishes being all that the team have been able to achieve.
A podium in Baku from the now retired Sebastian Vettel has been the high point for the team so far, but all the indicators from pre-season suggest that Aston Martin could achieve big things this year.
The team’s pre-season results have seen them compete with the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull, with many pundits and journalists predicting that the team will finish third in the championship this year, beating the struggling Mercedes team on the way.
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While fast individual laps are a good indicator of a team’s potential during pre-season, race pace is ultimately key to success.
Aston Martin ended up completing a long race simulation run in pre-season at the same time as Ferrari and according to new signing Fernando Alonso, his team were faster than the Scuderia.
“On the last test day, for example, we did a race simulation. Then we did 57 laps, the same thing we are going to do this week in Bahrain,” said the Spaniard.
“We put fuel in for those 57 laps and did the full race with the full set-up, even changing tyres. At the same time, Ferrari were doing the same programme as us with the same fuel for the race, same stops – and we were slightly faster.”
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After two years of building a platform in F1, 2023 could finally be the year that Aston Martin show what they are capable of, with regular podiums being the target for Alonso.
The team have recruited a number of high-profile staff members from the top teams in recent years, with these additions finally starting to pay dividends with the AMR23.
The team have been accused of copying Red Bull with their car designs due to the signing of former Red Bull head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows, but the team have strongly denied these claims.