Alonso man-team: “Test? It would have been better to have Stroll too” | FormulaPassion.it

Surprise effect
In Bahrain, in addition to the ‘usual’ three top teams – Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes – the green Aston Martin captured the attention of insiders. The Silverstone team, which in the last two seasons after the name change from Racing Point has never gone beyond seventh place in the Constructors’ standings, made an excellent impression. Good responses on the flying lap, excellent race pace numbers. The only small flaw was that of reliability, with an electronic problem during day-1, but in the following two days of testing everything went smoothly from this point of view as well. There is an abundance of comments on the new AMR23 inside the paddock and there are those who believe it is even capable of entering the fight for the podium in Bahrain.

Alonso workaholic
During the tests, the bulk of the work was done by Fernando Alonso, who was able to enjoy four driving sessions, as opposed to the three reserved by the other teams for all his colleagues, due to the absence of Lance Stroll. The Canadian fractured his wrists during a training session on his bike and had to leave his car to third rider Felipe Drugovich, who he rode on Thursday and Saturday mornings and who will almost certainly be in the car also in the first GP of the season. One could imagine Alonso happy to have been able to ‘enjoy’ the new car for longer than his rivals, but that’s not the case. The two-time world champion, in fact, has rediscovered himself as a man-team and at the Spanish site AS he confided the only real regret of his tests.

Stroll’s absence
“More miles for me without Stroll? It’s actually worse – explained the veteran of Oviedo – worse because I hear things in the car, or transmit them to the engineers, that I don’t know if they are part of the Aston Martin philosophy or if they really derive from the physics of the car“. Stroll’s long militancy in the family team (his father Lawrence is the owner) would have helped to dispel some doubts: “Had there been the pilot who has been here every year – concluded Alonso – that would have been of great help. Because we could have had his feedback. We were always in touch with him to see if he could answer any questions. I would have liked him to test the car“.