The Bahrain Grand Prix could not have gone any better for Aston Martin, with their drivers finishing in P3 and P6 after a competitive race.
Despite having surgery for a broken wrist only a couple of weeks ago and missing all of pre-season testing, Lance Stroll held off George Russell to finish in sixth, a result which was praised by his teammate Fernando Alonso.
As for Alonso, the Spaniard recovered from early contact with his teammate to finish on the podium, passing George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz along the way.
The 41-year-old’s battle with Lewis Hamilton rolled back the years, with the duo swapping positions a number of times before Alonso completed an audacious overtake down the inside of Turn 10.
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While this epic battle was great for the viewers, Alonso has joked that he did not enjoy the difficult battle with his fellow veteran.
“It was great, a lot of respect between us,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s never the same when you fight against Lewis, one of the legends of our sport, and you know he can do something unexpected and use his talent.
“He got me in Turn 4, I was in front of him but he managed to pass me there.
“There was a little bit of a surprise and I didn’t like it so I tried in another place and it worked, and I had more pace so I could pull away.”
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While Alonso had the pace to get up to P4, the Spaniard did have to rely on some luck in Bahrain, as third-place Charles Leclerc was forced to retire from the race with an engine failure.
The AMR23 looks like a formidable car so far this season, with some pundits tipping the team to finish as the runner up in this year’s championship, should Ferrari not be able to fix their reliability issues.
Alonso’s podium was only Aston Martin’s second in F1, but if the team can build on their impressive start this season, it could be the first of many.