“They will kill the tyres”: How Alonso took Aston Martin to the podium in Bahrain

Fernando Alonso claimed a podium finish in his first race as an Aston Martin driver with a battling drive in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Here’s the story of his race as revealed by his team radio messages.

Fernando Alonso’s 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix radio transcript

Before the new season began the FIA removed a rule which forbade race engineers from speaking to their drivers during the formation lap. The rule was originally introduced to reduce the amount of coaching teams could give their drivers on how to improve their starts.

The removal of the rule meant Alonso’s engineer Chris Cronin was able to give him feedback on how well he performed his practice start on the grid in order to improve his getaway when the race began.

Lap: 1/57
Cronin	Sounds like there’s a delay on your radio coming to me. Short messages will be okay.
Cronin	So Fernando once they fire you up Matty will lean in and put the pit limiter on. It’s two bite point finds and then you can do your start.
Cronin	So Fernando start was target plus nine. Target plus nine.
Cronin	So we’re happy with brake temps that’s good. Brakes and tyre temp looking good. You can do five burn-outs, five burn-outs.
Cronin	Okay so run switch ‘start’, then a bite-point find, then back to neutral.

Shortly after the start Alonso was hit by his team mate at turn four. He was clearly unimpressed about the contact and initially unaware Stoll was the culprit.

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Cronin	So last car on the grid now, first gear.
Alonso	I’ve been hit in turn four so check.
Cronin	Copy Fernando copy, we saw and we’re keeping an eye. Everything okay so far.
Cronin	So you’ve got Russell ahead, Bottas behind.
Alonso	Yeah but I mean they cannot do that.
Lap: 2/57
Cronin	Yeah copy we are reviewing. So I would get straight into some management if you can.

Alonso, like almost every driver on the grid, started on the soft tyres. He therefore bided him time in the opening laps.

The contact from Stroll left him in seventh place behind the two Mercedes. Within a few laps Alonso was beginning to apply pressure to George Russell.

Meanwhile a radio problem which the team identified on the grid began to clear up.

Lap: 5/57
Cronin	So Lance is car behind now, 1.3 back, Russell still 1.4 ahead.
Alonso	Copy. Level one. Ten, I mean.
Cronin	Yeah copy mate, copy.
Cronin	Happy to go another step up on the torque switch and brake balance four if you can. Can I just have an early aero balance check, early aero balance check.
Lap: 6/57
Alonso	[Unclear]. And radio’s back to normal. It’s good now.
Cronin	Copy that, understood, it’s good for me as well.
Lap: 7/57
Cronin	So Russell 1.8, Lance 1.4. Consider yellow button turn eight. Sorry, turn 10, turn 10.
Cronin	So Fernando the three cars ahead are not really pulling away, good on management, but the pack behind are also not dropping back too much. So probably Plan A plus two or three at the moment.
Lap: 8/57
Alonso	Copy.
Lap: 9/57
Cronin	Hamilton struggling with front tyres, apparently.
Cronin	Okay so you will get DRS. Russell 0.9, Lance 1.3.
Lap: 10/57
Cronin	Both Safety Car windows are open. Both Safety Car windows are open.

Valtteri Bottas, who ran in eighth place behind Alonso in the opening laps, pitted on lap 12. His Alfa Romeo team were Aston Martin’s key rivals last year – they ended the season tied on points. So it was a measure of how unbothered Aston Martin were by Bottas pitting that they didn’t respond to it or try to pre-empt it.

On lap 13 Alonso passed Russell, who headed for the pits.

Lap: 13/57
Cronin	Fernando how are the tyres feeling now? How are the tyres? Bottas pitted a lap ago got a bit of free air now.
Alonso	Yeah they feel okay. I think we should keep going.
Cronin	Copy, understood. Okay, So keep going, you can use everything from the tyres, stay out.
Alonso	[Unclear]
Lap: 14/57
Cronin	Box, box. Box, box.

Despite pitting on the lap after Russell, Alonso came out of the pits ahead of him. He had given away a position to Bottas, but breezed past the Alfa Romeo.

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Lap: 15/57
Alonso	Okay, box.
Cronin	You can go to run switch ‘race’, run switch ‘race’, you can do that now. Russell is on hards and Magnussen is just in front of Russell. You’ve got loads of energy if you need it. So Russell has got past Magnussen, he’s right behind you, 0.9 behind.
Cronin	So Russell is 0.8 behind, he does have DRS.
Lap: 18/57
Cronin	So keep doing the lift-and-coast, it’s good for these tyres, and maybe one click forwards brake balance.
Lap: 20/57
Cronin	Can I just have an early aero balance check.
Alonso	Feels okay.
Cronin	Copy that. If you want a bit more entry stability, torque nine is an option.

While Alonso began to chase down Lewis Hamilton, his thoughts returned to the collision 20 laps earlier, asking Cronin whether the stewards had investigated it. Given he had been hit by his team mate, Aston Martin will understandably have been pleased no action was taken, but Cronin decided not to bother his driver with that piece of information at this stage in proceedings.

After the race Alonso indicated he saw who was responsible on one of the trackside video screens during the race. “I thought it was George but I saw the replay on TV later on, and it was Lance.”

“We got lucky,” said Alonso. “Obviously the two cars, they didn’t have any problems and we could continue.”

Lap: 21/57
Alonso	Did they investigate the incident?
Cronin	They did investigate it, they did, and no action.
Alonso	Okay.
Alonso	Level five.
Cronin	Copy, understood.
Lap: 22/57
Cronin	So Hamilton is 3.4 ahead, Russell 2.4 behind. Last lap Hamilton still doing 38.6s.

Aston Martin’s tyre degradation over long stints looked encouraging in the pre-race test at Bahrain International Circuit, as well as in practice two days before the grand prix. It was borne out in the race, and Alonso recognised the best way to attack their rivals was to expose their poorer tyre management by running longer.

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Lap: 23/57
Cronin	So we’re still catching Hamilton, two tenths a lap, two tenths.
Cronin	So we are happy with the management now, happy, this is good.
Alonso	Yes, they have more deg so let’s think how to use it.
Lap: 24/57
Cronin	Copy that Hamilton 2.6 ahead.
Alonso	Let’s get closer and see what they do.
Lap: 26/57
Cronin	Hamilton 1.6 ahead.
Lap: 27/57
Cronin	Fernando let’s take another aero balance check, aero balance.
Alonso	Yeah I’m happy. How you see it?

The race moved into a new phase at half-distance as Hamilton began leaning on his tyres more in anticipation of his second pit stop. He came in on lap 30, Russell the lap after, but Aston Martin kept Alonso out until lap 34. That ensured he had fresher tyres to attack his rival with over the race’s final stint.

Lap: 28/57
Cronin	Yeah looking good for us. Hamilton is now starting to push more, he’s stopped doing management. From our side it may be a bit oversteer, but not massive.
Lap: 29/57
Cronin	So last lap you were the same lap time as Hamilton, same lap time.
Alonso	We’re still on target?
Cronin	Yeah, confirm, we’re on target, Plan A, Plan A.
Alonso	Copy.
Cronin	Can I just check level?
Alonso	Four.
Cronin	Copy, understood.
Lap: 31/57
Alonso	Tyres feel good.
Cronin	Copy, mate, copy.
Lap: 32/57
Alonso	Traffic hurts the tyres a lot. Hopefully they find something.
Alonso	Copy, mate, copy. Just check your aero balance again now you’re in clear are. Aero balance.
Alonso	Yeah still happy. We keep on going. Tyres looking good.
Cronin	Copy, mate, copy. So basically behind you Lance and Russell have stopped, we’re just keeping an eye on that gap. Hamilton and Sainz ahead have stopped, we’re just going to build the tyre advantage to them.
Lap: 33/57
Cronin	Okay so we are going to stay out, we are going to stay out. Can you go to race on the run switch, race.

Aston Martin finally brought Alonso in for his final pit stop. Intriguingly, Alonso seems to have been confident he could have kept going for longer, indicating his car was taking good care of its tyres. His question why they didn’t extend their second stint longer went unanswered, though it’s likely the team were wary that a slightly slow stop at this stage would have risked dropping him into the battle between his team mate and Russell behind.

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Lap: 34/57
Cronin	We will box this lap, box this lap, box box.
Alonso	Copy, box.
Lap: 35/57
Cronin	So might be tight with Hamilton.
Alonso	Why we didn’t stay out?
Cronin	So Hamilton 1.3.
Lap: 36/57
Cronin	Hamilton 1.0.

It only took a couple of laps for Alonso to draw within range of Hamilton. An initial attempt to pass at turn four went awry when Alonso suffered a snap of oversteer at the exit, allowing the Mercedes to re-pass.

But on the run to turn 10, an unlikely overtaking spot, Alonso coolly lined himself up for a pass on the inside of Hamilton, claiming fifth place. “When you fight at the front, with these great drivers, great champions, it is more intense, more adrenaline when you are wheel to wheel,” said Alonso afterwards.

Lap: 37/57
Cronin	You’ve got lots of energy.
Cronin	Got loads of energy.
Lap: 38/57
Alonso	Yes! Let’s go!
Cronin	Great job. Hamilton 0.5 behind. Sainz is next. Just watch Hamilton as well. So we’ve got loads of energy, got loads of energy. Hamilton still 0.7 back but he has got DRS. Gap 0.5.
Lap: 39/57
Cronin	Hamilton 0.4. He’s got DRS. Hamilton 0.3.

Alonso picked up another position almost immediately when Charles Leclerc retired from the race. The Aston Martin driver alerted his team to the stationary Ferrari. They were prepared to pit had a full Safety Car period been deployed, but the incident was covered by a Virtual Safety Car and racing soon resumed.

Lap: 40/57
Cronin	Hamilton is 1.0 behind but he does have DRS. Sainz 2.6 ahead. Last lap Sainz 37.4.
Cronin	Hamilton 0.6, 0.5, he’s got DRS.
Alonso	Any feedback on the previous sets?
Cronin	Full Safety Car window is open, full Safety Car window is out.
Alonso	Ferrari out. Get ready, eh?
Cronin	We are ready. Safety Car window is open but stay out unless it’s a Safety Car.
Lap: 41/57
Cronin	It’s only a full Safety Car window.
Cronin	Virtual Safety Car, Virtual Safety Car, slow down, get your delta positive and you can go to ‘cool’, go to ‘cool’. So just keep your front temperature, you can let the rears cool a little bit. So can I just have a balance check on that final stint. If you went to a soft would you take any aero balance off.
Alonso	No I think was okay. I think we don’t need a Safety Car so should be virtual.
Cronin	MFA Grey, default C2, okay. So at the restart your run switch will go to race, keep bit of brake temp again on the front but not too much. So we don’t think it will be too long.
Cronin	Virtual Safety Car’s ending. It’ll be run switch ‘race’. Just coming to the restart.

The race got underway again and Alonso was immediately quicker than Sainz, attacking the Ferrari for the final podium position, which he claimed on lap 45.

Alonso said his passes during the race were not entirely straightforward as his rivals had strong straight-line speed. “We were not very fast on the straight,” he said. “Eventually you normally pass into turn one or into turn four [but] I think I passed Lewis into turn 10 and Carlos into turn 11. So not the normal places, because we could not match their straight-line speed.

“We had to make some moves in the corners before turn 10 and turn 11 and change trajectory, and then get the overtake done. I think [with] Lewis it was more playing a surprise move there, because no one overtakes into turn 10. With Carlos, it was close into turn 10 again, he closed the door, and then I had a better exit into turn 11.”

Aston Martin need to improve the AMR23’s straight-line speed, said Alonso, “because obviously we would love to pass just on the main straight like everyone does”.

Lap: 42/57
Cronin	Hamilton is 1.0 back. 15 laps to go, 15. Sainz 1.4 ahead.
Lap: 43/57
Cronin	So last lap you were one second quicker than Sainz.
Alonso	How much older tyres?
Cronin	So Sainz is three-lap older tyres. Three lap older tyres.
Cronin	So Sainz 1.0, just missed DRS.
Cronin	Sainz is 1.0, 0.9. So you’ve got DRS, Hamilton is two seconds back.
Lap: 44/57
Cronin	Okay Sainz 0.5, keep the pressure on him, he’s worried about his tyres, Sainz 0.4.
Lap: 45/57
Cronin	Sainz is 0.7 back, good job.
Alonso	Yes! Bye-bye.

Having worked his way up to third place, and with fresher tyres than his closest rivals behind, Alonso was confident he could reach the end of the race with no problems.

Lap: 46/57
Cronin	Okay 12 laps to go, 12 laps to go. Sainz is already one second back.
Cronin	So Sainz has stil got DRS, he’s 0.8 behind.
Alonso	It’s okay. He will kill the tyre.
Alonso	We are okay on fuel and all these things, no?
Cronin	Everything is great. Everything is good. Fuel, brakes all good. You’ve got 1.4 to Sainz. At the end of this lap, it’ll be 11 to go.
Alonso	Okay.
Cronin	So the limitation on this set of tyres will be the rear-left. So that’s the only one you’ve got to look after, the rear-left.
Lap: 47/57
Alonso	Understood.
Lap: 48/57
Cronin	So full Safety Car window is open, full Safety Car window is open.
Lap: 49/57
Cronin	Nine more laps, nine more laps.
Alonso	Copy. Understood. We don’t want any Safety Car.
Cronin	Yeah copy, copy.
Alonso	I’m on level seven, avoiding all the kerbs. Just let me know if the situation changes behind.
Cronin	Yeah will do. At the moment Sainz is holding Hamilton up, we’ve got a 4.3 second gap behind.

On course to return to the podium for the first time in more than a year, and revelling in the discovery of how competitive his new car is – and the vindication of his decision to leave Alpine for Aston Martin – Alonso was in good spirits over the final laps.

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Lap: 51/57
Alonso	Race situation? Where is Lance?
Cronin	So Lance 12 seconds back from you, he’s four seconds behind Hamilton, but he is catching Hamilton and Sainz about three or four tenths a lap. Behind Lance is Russell, two seconds behind him. And ahead of you is Perez but he’s 24 seconds ahead.
Alonso	Okay. This is a lovely car to drive.
Lap: 52/57
Cronin	Six more laps. Sainz is 6.8 seconds back. So we’re happy to be a little bit less sliding in 12. Bit less sliding in 12.
Alonso	Okay.
Lap: 54/57
Cronin	Four laps to go. Safety Car windows are all closed.
Alonso	Copy, four laps. Any concern? Any advice? Avoiding kerbs, avoiding a slide in 12, anything more?
Cronin	No that’s really good Fernando, all of that is good, we’re happy with everything else.
Alonso	Okay, understood.
Cronin	You’ve got an eight second gap behind, Sainz is still the car behind, Hamilton’s dropped back from him now.
Alonso	Will Lance catch them?
Cronin	Lance is four seconds back from Hamilton so I think it’s tough with three to go at the end of this one.
Lap: 56/57
Alonso	Copy. Still amazing.
Cronin	Yeah, exactly.
Cronin	Zhou is just coming out of the pits, he’s a lap down.
Alonso	Is this the last lap or not?
Cronin	No, this one and one more. This one and one more. Zhou is on soft tyres, 0.9 behind, but he’s a lap down.
Alonso	Copy, that’s good.
Cronin	So Zhou’s just dropping back, he’s going to go for a fast lap, he’s just dropping back.

After taking the chequered flag Alonso hailed his team’s leap forward and added words of praise for Stroll – even after being informed it was his team mate who hit him on the first lap.

“I was happy,” he explained afterwards. “And the car was very nice to drive. That was probably our strength, all through testing.

“This weekend, even though the race felt very long, the last 10 laps, because I wanted to see the chequered flag and being on the podium, the car was very good to drive and I could have driven for another hour or something, just alone on track.”

Lap: 57/57
Cronin	Okay this is the last full lap, last full lap.
Alonso	Copy, last lap.
Cronin	Yes, yes, yes, well done, that’s P3.
Alonso	Yes! What you have done, guys, what you have done. I’m so proud of you. This is amazing.
Cronin	Okay mate go to run switch ‘cool’, get the pick-up. That’s for Jim’s 60th birthday.
Alonso	Happy birthday! The 60s are the new 40s.
Cronin	Okay mate take the pick-up. Just to let you know what happened on that first lap at turn four. Lance was trying to get past George and as you switched back to try and get Hamilton, Lance just couldn’t quite get stopped in time. There was no damage to either car so all okay.
Alonso	Okay. I thought it was George. Amazing. I mean, guys, you built the second-best car. And by the way, Lance is my hero. Amazing performance, well done everyone.
Cronin	Absolutely, mate. Absolutely.
Alonso	Where is he? Catching me?
Cronin	No Lance is eight seconds behind you, coming out of turn 10.
Cronin	So when you stop, Fernando, you’ll park next to the… oh excuse me. So when you come in, you just stop next to the FIA weigh bridge scales, you’re position three there.

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