How pleasing it was to enjoy again the irrepressible, beaming smile that lit up Fernando Alonso’s face after his podium finish at Formula One’s season opener in Bahrain. The Spaniard was positively bouncing round the paddock, once more revelling in competing at the front end of the grid.
Alonso’s performance and that of his Aston Martin team was as unexpected as it was welcome. Their turnaround from last year has been exceptional while Alonso delivered a drive to remind everyone that even at 41, he remains a force to be reckoned with. At the Jeddah circuit for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, F1’s surprise package of the 2023 season will once more take centre stage as both here and at the next round in Australia will demonstrate just how competitive they really are.
“If we are strong in those races then I think we will have a very good 2023,” said Alonso. Good enough to go for a win? “Yes, I think so,” he said with another big grin.
What makes this such a gripping narrative is just how unlikely it seemed 12 months ago. Then, Aston Martin were struggling at the back of the grid and went on to finish seventh in the constructors’ championship. Yet in Bahrain they were on it and Alonso was on the third step. To put that in perspective, with a Red Bull one-two he vanquished both Ferrari and Mercedes, the first purely pace-based upset to the big-three apple cart for almost a decade.
Some of this was without doubt down to Alonso. The double world champion has laboured in uncompetitive cars since he left Ferrari in 2014, yet given the chance his mercurial brilliance was a testament to his insistence that he is as quick as ever.
Alonso had to be at his best because the Aston, for all that it was quick and enormously forgiving on its rear tyres, could not match the straight-line speed of Mercedes or Ferrari. After having been tagged by his teammate Lance Stroll and dropping to seventh on the opening lap, Alonso had to pass both Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari to make up places. Recognising he could not do it in the traditional passing areas of turn one or four, Alonso allowed his instinct full reign. He dashed up the inside of the turn 10 hairpin against Hamilton, a difficult downhill move into the braking zone, unconventional and unexpected, and he made it stick.
Similarly against Sainz, who was aware of what he might try at 10, Alonso cut back through the corner for a faster exit and made the move through turn 11. Masterful stuff and a salutary reminder that Alonso can think a good race as well as he can drive one. Little wonder he was still buzzing afterwards.
It would, however, not have been possible without Aston delivering such a competitive car. It is too early to get carried away – they were still around six-tenths a lap off the pace of the Red Bull – but it is clearly a formidable contender. Without his first lap setback, Alonso would have been fighting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for third, before his ECU failure.
Aston Martin’s owner, Lawrence Stroll, has grand ambitions for the team, with a new factory and wind tunnel complex set to come online at Silverstone later this year. They have also invested in personnel, bringing in Dan Fallows as technical director from Red Bull, as well as his deputy, Eric Blandin, from Mercedes.
Nor have they been hesitant in chasing performance. After last season opened so poorly, Aston acted decisively and swiftly. They adopted a new design philosophy which set the tone for this year’s model, and while there were accusations that they were copying Red Bull, the team were cleared of having done so.
It was rather that they had seen a design direction that was patently successful and adapted theirs along those lines. “What we’re trying to do for next year is to take a very aggressive development strategy but build on those lessons we’ve learned this year,” Fallows explained at the end of last season.
What has also made their success so notable is how it contrasts with Mercedes, who stuck with their concept from last season and have admitted it was the wrong decision, which is galling for a team that supplies the power unit, gearbox and suspension to Aston Martin. Mercedes have also acknowledged they too would now be adopting a change in design philosophy after Bahrain and the team principal, Toto Wolff, has conceded Aston are an inspiration for what might yet be achieved.
This weekend in Jeddah, then, will show a little better how the pecking order behind Red Bull pans out and whether Ferrari or indeed Aston Martin might yet get closer. Meanwhile Alonso remains on a high and optimistic about further success as the season unfolds. “There is more to learn from the car, and there is more to come on our side,” he said. “So, full trust in our team, obviously they know what they are doing.”
