“What have you done?” Fernando Alonso asked his engineers sarcastically after achieving a podium finish in his first race with Aston Martin. The 99th podium for the two-time Spanish champion came in Bahrain. The previous one was achieved in Qatar 2021, a third place behind Hamilton and Verstappen. That was his best finish in two seasons with Alpine. In his first race with Aston Martin he has already matched the haul of podiums he achieved in his last outing with the Enstone home. “First off, congratulations to Lance (Stroll, sixth, still affected by his injuries from the bicycle accident). It’s incredible to get a podium in the first race”, Fernando said in the corralito prior to the podium. The Spaniard responded to Nico Rosberg about the fights against Hamilton and Sainz: “I would have liked to start ahead of them but I didn’t have the best start and I had to overtake on the track. It was more fun, with more adrenaline, people enjoyed it”, Fernando closed before heading to a sweet podium. Later, he spoke at the FIA press conference.
—99th podium, the first on this circuit since the victory in Bahrain 2010…
—The best start for this project, we did not expect to be so competitive. The objective in 2023 was perhaps to lead the midfield and get closer to the ‘top’ teams. But a podium was not planned and suddenly we find ourselves the second best car in Bahrain, behind Red Bull all weekend. I am happy with the work that has been done at the Silverstone factory. Let’s enjoy it and hopefully continue to get closer to the teams in front.
—Is the potential of Aston Martin real?
—It’s going too well to be true, you always hope that at some point he will take a step back and return to reality. But the benefits are real. I want to go to Jeddah, they are high speed corners. In Bahrain we were strong in things that we will not find in Jeddah or in Australia. If we are strong there, we can have a very good season in 2023.
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—How were the battles with Hamilton and Sainz?
—I enjoyed because I finished in front. It’s always the same when you fight in front. Great pilots, great champions, there is more adrenaline. The car handled very well, it has been like that since testing. Although the end of the race was long for me, the car was going very well.
“Did you feel Stroll’s touch?”
“Apparently yes, I thought it was George.” I saw the replay on TV and it was Lance. He got a very good start if he was with me in turn four. But nothing happened, it was our lucky day.
—Do you think about victory 33?
-Yeah. Because if you’re third in the first race, there are 22 chances. In Canada I came second. A lot can happen with so many races ahead. Maybe we need some help from the cars in front, maybe with some retirements or problems we can do more than just a podium finish”.
