sounds too good. Aston Martin starts the season with enthusiasm after leading free practice, but fighting for pole position is not the goal for this Saturday. Not yet. Fernando Alonso stresses that there may be youth mistakes in a “very talented” team, but newly assembled. It is included.
After topping the timesheets on the first Friday of the season, Would it be a disappointment not to take pole position? “No not at all, I don’t think of such a high position. I don’t know what position will be good for us. After the test we wanted to be in Q3 with both cars and score as many points as possible. We don’t want to make mistakes In these first races, it’s very easy, because fighting for 12th is not the same as fighting for the top-5. The pressure and the adrenaline are different. We’ll make mistakes, I’ll make them too, so We have to keep our feet on the ground. The goal has to be to fight for the title in the long term, not this year.
Nor is he able to point out if the AMR23 is his best car since 2013. The competition will tell. “Don’t know. It’s good to drive it, I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But everything is relative compared to what others do. You can feel great in a car and when someone is faster, you don’t feel so good anymore. We have to be proud of the step we have taken, It has been a very intense work in the factory during the last months. The knowledge and talent of this team is unprecedented and It’s encouraging for the future.” Fernando said this Friday after finishing free practice in Bahrain.
“It’s good to see the times, we are competitive after the tests there are always mixed feelings. But the first three grands prix have very different circuits, Bahrain, Jeddah and Australia. We focus on ourselves. The balance of the car was not completely perfect this Friday, plus we want to strengthen every area in the team. I have different philosophies in my past, Stoffel (Vandoorne, reserve) He also has other experiences. we try to be the strongest team possible and we are in that situation now”, explains the two-time champion. In the classification this Saturday more unknowns will be cleared up.
