Fernando Alonso has proved today that age is just a number and that his talent is still intact.
Photo: Aston Martin F1 team
Fernando Alonso, driver of the day, had an amazing start with Aston Martin after clinching his first podium in his debut race with the British outfit. The 41-year old who started fifth and lost a bit of momentum after contact with teammate Lance Stroll drove his way through to third-place, fighting with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and fellow countryman Carlos Sainz Jr who was holding on to the place after Ferrari´s new debacle with Charles Leclerc.
This podium means Aston Martin made huge progress compared to their last season when they could barely make it out of Q1.
Before the podium ceremony, Alonso took the chance to congratulate Lance Stroll on racing 12 days after surgery and then praised the team´s effort.
“Amazing for the team. It was a great weekend and, yeah, finishing on the podium in the first race of the year, this is just amazing, you know, what Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second best car in race one, this is just unreal.”
When asked by Nico Rosberg about his feelings of overtaking a Ferrari and Mercedes, Alonso could not hide a smile.
“Yeah, obviously, I would love to start in front of them and then use the pace. But yeah, we had not the best start today and we had to pass on track. So yeah, it felt like more exciting, more adrenaline for sure. So people enjoyed it. We did enjoy as well.
“Obviously, a perfect start for this project. We didn’t expect to be that competitive. I think the aim in 2023 was, you know, getting the mix in the midfield, maybe leading that midfield and get close to the top three teams eventually. But even a podium maybe was not in the radar in 2023. And, and we found ourselves second best car today in Bahrain, or the whole weekend, like just behind Red Bull. So, this is, yeah, a little bit of a surprise. But we are extremely proud, happy with the job done at Silverstone in the factory. So big congratulations to everyone. Let’s enjoy this moment and build from here, hopefully a good 2023 campaign and get closer and closer to the top guys.”
