Aston Martin shocked the entire paddock when it raced to the top of the grid at the first race of the season in Bahrain. Not just Fernando Alonso even Lance Stroll who was driving with a broken hand finished above Mercedes.
Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff has given an explanation on how their customer team are faster than them.
Wolff credited a Red Bull engineer who moved to Aston Martin and suddenly made the cars go two seconds faster.
The Austrian further added that a year ago the team was at the back of the grid finishing P17 and P18. He admits that Fernando Alonso is strong and capable of achieving his goals.
But Wolff was shocked to see even Lance Stroll outperform the Silver Arrows with two broken hands and one broken toe. Speaking to Austrian media, Sports24, Wolff said that he has never seen such a jump in a team’s performance.
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Toto Wolff taking inspiration from Aston Martin
After disappointing results at the Bahrain GP, Wolff gave a brutal assessment of the W14. The 51-year-old even brought back James Allison to the team as their Technical Director.
Even Mercedes’ star Lewis Hamilton said that half of the Aston Martin car is Mercedes’. He revealed that the Silverstone-based team did their aerodynamic testing in the Silver arrows wind tunnel.
Hamilton explained that given all these facts it is clear that the W14 has a long way to go. After watching Aston Martin’s team outpace them, Wolff too took inspiration from the team.
He said that Aston Martin’s achievements are inspirational and compared the team’s positive roadmap with their own.
Lance Stroll 2 weeks ago, as Fernando said, he is a hero pic.twitter.com/GqTJVlBIu0
— Aston Martin F1 updates (@startonpole) March 7, 2023
Fernando Alonso fires warning at rivals
Alonso after clinching P3 in the first race of the season and positioning his car in the top 3 constructors has fired another warning at his rivals.
The 41-year-old has long been awaiting his 3rd championship title and everyone on the paddock knows that the Spaniard has an unending competitive spirit.
After the first race of the season, Alonso said that he has not felt so positive after the first race of the season in about 10 years of his F1 career.
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