Aston Martin has been the great surprise of the first half of the Formula 1 championship, despite the “difficulties” in Austria and, above all, Great Britain. Two weekends in which the British team has not been able to reach the podium, a dynamic that had been repeated in six of the eight previous races. However, it does not tarnish the good start to the season, where is competing with two giants like Ferrari and Mercedes.
The Spaniard is still somewhat incredulous at the possibility of fighting for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, removing Red Bull from the equation after the absolute dominance it is showing, as he explained in a statement to ‘Total Motorsport’. “Red Bull is in its own league now. For us, it’s important to score points with both cars and every weekend. I’m trying to keep the fight going with Mercedes and Ferrari, which is obviously still hard for us to believe, knowing that we’re in this battle.”.
A skepticism that remains, but that was even greater in Bahrain, the first race of the season. In the first weekend, the performance of each team is a big question and more after the results of Aston Martin in 2022. “When we started the season in Bahrain, we definitely didn’t expect to be there. and now we are enjoying every weekend. It’s good to be in this battle”, says Fernando.
An evolution that comes from last season
Aston Martin began the 2022 season in the bottom of the championship, without scoring a single point from the first three races of the season. However, an evolution could be seen throughout the seasonwhich led the team to finish in sixth position in the Constructors’ World Championship (tied on 55 points with Alfa Romeo).
Fernando was aware of this improvement, who matches the performance of Aston Martin with that of Alpine in Abu Dhabi. “I think the performance of both in the last race last year was very similar.. So when we think of Aston Martin last year, we can think of the difficulties at the beginning or the middle of the season, but I think at the end of the year they had a reasonable car.
Something that the Spaniard confirmed when he got into the car of the British team a few hours after the end of the season with Alpine. “When I tested the Aston Martin in Abu Dhabi I felt that it was a good and competitive car. I think they made a lot of progress during the year.” An evolution that has led to the reality that the team is experiencing in 2023. “The step forward of winter is a normal progress that followed throughout the year”, he concludes.