Since day 1, Aston Martin has been perceived as the new threat in the town. Though, they won’t be anyway vying for the championship yet. But they seem to be a midfield challenger and could even cut heavy points here and there.
Their pace on both days seemed way more than their last campaign. Both Red Bull doyens Christian Horner and Adrian Newey have rated the Silverstone team as a threat after Ferrari and Mercedes.
And they are indeed building on it. Fernando Alonso seemed to be hitting the right pace with the team and gave in a P3 result by the end of the day. But it’s not limited to that.
Fernando Alonso is just marginally behind F1 champion Max Verstappen
Verstappen secured a P2 on day 2, and right behind him was Fernando Alonso with only a marginal difference of four-tenths of a second. But it’s been claimed that Aston Martin was running its car on less fuel.
According to Antonio Lobato from Soymotor.com, Alonso ran around 40kg of gas, maybe slightly more. Though, he isn’t aware of how much fuel Red Bull uses. He claims every 10 kg adds slows a car down by three-tenths a second. So if Red Bull’s fuel level had been known, the picture could have been clearer.
Más cosas q suenan bien. Fernando ha terminado a 0.4 de Verstappen y algunos podrían pensar q ha rodado con poca gasolina… Se ha filtrado en redes q han rodado con 40 kg, yo puedo decir q han sido más 😇Eso sí, no tengo ni idea de cuantos llevaba Max. Cada 10 kg son 3 décimas.
— Antonio Lobato (@alobatof1) February 24, 2023
But then, the track conditions when the two drivers put their marks were also different. But regardless, Alonso’s timing shows positive signs for his team, especially when Aston Martin is eyeing fighting for the championship in a couple of years.
No teammate in for the first race
Despite the positive news for Aston Martin regarding their car pace, they still managed to have a hiccup before the season started. Lance Stroll was reportedly injured due to an accident and missed the entire pre-season testing.
Though, earlier, what kind of injury he had obtained was unknown. The recent reports now reveal that he has incurred wrist injuries and will also miss the season’s first race in Bahrain.
— Lance Stroll (@lance_stroll) February 20, 2023
Felipe Drugovich, the 2022 F2 champion, will continue to fulfil the day 3 duties of testing. And is likely to make his F1 debut by replacing Stroll in the race in Bahrain. The Canadian race driver now ideally be joining his team in Saudi Arabia.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton Gifts George Russell & Rest of Mercedes Team a ‘British’ Underwear During 2022 Season
