The winter break is very much coming to an end for Aston Martin, with the Silverstone-based outfit pressing on with their preparations for the 2023 season.
There is one huge change at the British side for the upcoming season, with the retired Sebastian Vettel having been replaced by double World Champion Fernando Alonso.
Alonso appears to be settling in very nicely at Aston Martin, with the team having recently shared a video on social media of the 41-year-old’s first day at the team’s HQ.
Alonso is incredibly excited about his switch from Alpine to Aston Martin, with the British side looking set for big things.
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With a new factory nearing completion, plenty of new high-profile personnel signings and the addition of Alonso, 2023 is looking likely to be a fantastic year for Aston Martin.
From what he’s seen so far, the Spaniard is certainly impressed with the work rate of the Aston Martin staff.
“I saw a lot of energy from everyone, very motivated,” Alonso said at the end of the video.
Whilst it was Alonso’s first visit to the team’s HQ in the video, he did work for the side at the 2022 post-season test in Abu Dhabi, albeit in a completely sponsor-less car and race suit.
The Spaniard drove the team’s 2022 challenger, the AMR22, during the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the veteran having been incredibly impressed by Mercedes’ power unit reliability.
Given that he suffered six reliability-based retirements at Alpine last year, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he was amazed at how reliable the Germans power unit was.
It appears that it’s not just Alonso who’s happy to have joined Aston Martin, with the team’s deputy technical director Eric Bladin having revealed that the Spaniard’s feedback at the post-season test has had an effect on the upcoming AMR23.
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“Fernando’s feedback is extremely precise,” Bladin said.
“He clearly communicated what he wants from the car and immediately identified a few things that we’ve been able to feed into the design of the AMR23.
“Last season, Fernando drove a car that was quite different from ours – and more competitive. After driving the AMR22, he was quickly able to compare the two cars and say, ‘this is clearly better, this is clearly worse, and this is what we should focus on.’”