A few minutes before getting into the car, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz participated in the FIA press conference that interrupted the last day of testing in Bahrain. The Spaniard speaks well of Aston Martin in what have been full training sessions, for now: “We still discover things in the car. Last year, Aston Martin suffered a bit and changed the philosophy, 95% is a new car. We are experimenting with the ‘set-up’ and some other things. When we put it all together, we’ll need a few races to really get the hang of it. There is no time to complete everything we want to test in three days of testing.” “Last year’s platform wasn’t good enough and this one now will allow us to use more than 5% of the car next year”, he says about the news of the AMR23.
He does not appreciate big differences between his new team and the others for which he has driven: “In the end, all Formula 1 teams have a similar philosophy when it comes to competing. They are all extremely professional. At Aston Martin there is an energy to be title contenders in the future, the new factory will be ready in the summer and the new wind tunnel will be a fundamental infrastructure for the future. Excited? Yes, I think more in a period of two years, but this team shows its interest to be ahead soon. With all the talent that has joined the team in this future, I feel that it is a very good project”.
As for the first few weeks at the factory: “So far, good. It’s a challenge to change teams and you have to learn several things. But we have had time in winter to spend days in the simulator and we did the Jerez test with the 2024 tires before these pre-season tests”.
“Try to win, be ahead”
Carlos Sainz, For his part, he is satisfied with some tests that have allowed him to experiment with the SF-23. Feel that you arrive more prepared at the first race in Bahrain (March 5) than a year ago “So far, so good. We are having a good test in terms of reliability, we do all the tests we wanted to do. We have a good car but the most important thing is that we are having some good tests”. “I am much happier with how the tests are going, I have been able to try many more things and understand the direction to take for the future. Last year I missed trying some things that compromised my first half of the season. Now everything is clearer. But the last tenth, until qualifying we won’t know which side he is on”, says the Ferrari driver. The objectives are ambitious: “Try to win more, be ahead and have more good times. If this allows me to be in the fight for the title, I will be happy”.
