During free practice, Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin were flying, with the Spaniard going quickest in FP2 and FP3.
There had been suggestions that Aston Martin’s impressive laptimes were due to other teams sandbagging but so far the team’s performance this weekend has proved that this is not the case.
Both Aston Martins made their way into Q3 with relative ease, with Lance Stroll qualifying in P8 while Fernando Alonso qualified in an impressive P5.
Only the Red Bulls and Ferraris managed to go faster than Alonso in Q3, putting Aston Martin in a good position to get a head start over Mercedes in the early battle for P3 in the constrictors’ championship.
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Alonso wsa questioned for leaving Alpine for Aston Martin last summer, with his new team sitting in seventh in the championship at the time but it seems that the Spaniard’s decision has been vindicated already.
Aston Martin genuinely look like a force to be reckoned with this season, with Alonso telling the media that his team’s pace seems almost like a dream.
“I’m laughing because going for a podium in race one… It feels too good to be true,” he said.
“For sure what we saw so far on our car and also historically, Aston Martin is very good tyre management. So if we have an opportunity we will take it.”
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With both of the Ferrari’s ahead of him, Alonso will be confident of scoring a podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix, especially following his comments after last weeks’ testing.
The Spaniard claimed that Aston Martin ran exactly the same long-run test as Ferrari on the final day of testing and were faster than the Scuderia, giving him faith that he can overtake the Ferrari’s during the Grand Prix.
Ferrari have also been struggling with tyre wear so far this season, meaning that if Aston Martin can get their strategy right, they could have a real chance at leapfrogging Ferrari and scoring their first podium since Sebastian Vettel in Baku back in 2021.