Leading Formula 1 drivers including Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are convinced they will face a stronger threat from Aston Martin this year.
The performance of the team’s new AMR23 has been the talk of testing. A race simulation run by its latest hiring, two-times world champion Fernando Alonso, convinced many in F1 that the team has made a significant step forward in the off-season.Aston Martin ended last year tied on points with Alfa Romeo, who pipped them to seventh place in the standings thanks to a fifth-place scored by Valtteri Bottas. However he is one of several drivers who took note of Aston Martin’s pace in testing.
Heading into the new season Bottas suspects his car is “not as fast as the Red Bull, not as fast as the Ferrari – and also Aston looked faster in the race sim.”
Bottas believes the rest of the pack is not far behind the trio and may include his former team Mercedes, whose driver Lewis Hamilton was also impressed by the pace of the Aston Martin.
“I’m really happy to see that Aston have taken such a step forward,” he told media including RaceFans. “They are, as far as we know, fully in the fight.”
While Alonso yesterday dismissed the idea Aston Martin has got on terms with any of last year’s top three teams, Hamilton isn’t sure whether Mercedes are still ahead of their engine customer.
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“Through all the data we have, you don’t know what fuel loads people run and all these different things, so it’s a bit all over the place. But it looks like they’re very, very strong and they could be right at the front. We’ll find out over the next day or so.
“I can’t say whether they’re ahead of us or we’re behind them, we’ll find out. But I’m hoping, I always hope that there’s going to be more than just two teams, more than three teams in the mix. So I think you’re seeing that finally, which is positive.”
Aston Martin, which previously competed as Racing Point, dropped Sergio Perez from its line-up in 2020. Now at Red Bull, Perez still has affection for his former team, and was pleased to see their performance in testing.
“They definitely have a strong car,” he said. “They definitely will be fighting.”
“They looked very strong in testing so of course I think they’re going to be very strong through the year,” he added. “They are a great team and I would be very happy for them to be competing at the front.”
“I have good friends there and I would be very, very proud for all the boys there to have taken the step they all deserve,” Perez continued. “So it would be great news, also for the sport, to have Fernando and Lance [Stroll] fighting at the front I think would be nice.”
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Perez’s team mate, reigning world champion Max Verstappen, agreed Aston Martin’s performance “looked very positive” ahead of practice for the first race today.
“In general, if you look at the team, they have a real desire of getting to the front. They’ve hired, I think, quite a lot of good people.
“So it will be interesting to see where they will be, also not only now, in the coming races and years. I think they had a very positive start.”
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badger (@badger)
3rd March 2023, 7:44
Verstappen v Alonso. The fight no one expected but everyone wants to see.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd March 2023, 7:58
I wish.. Aston might just be competitive for race 1 or 2.. but I don’t see them even being the 3rd fastest team when they get to Barcelona. Mercedes and ferrari have updates coming in full force
melkurion
3rd March 2023, 8:24
This is so very true :)
Mayrton
3rd March 2023, 9:51
Indeed :-)
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
3rd March 2023, 8:04
I hope they are – more the merrier
baasbas
3rd March 2023, 9:07
Being pessimistic it will probably go like this. To challenge RBR we need a strong team going after them. More fighting will probably mean more fighting behind RBR. Once the dust settles RBR will have a significant gap to the #2 and will cruise to the title.
drmouse (@drmouse)
3rd March 2023, 9:21
Agreed. The other teams are behind the RBR. If anyone’s is to challenge them, they need to not be taking points off each other. The more drivers/teams in the mix, the more likely RBR will walk it.
baasbas
3rd March 2023, 9:45
@drmouse
Verstappen said the car has improved ‘everywhere’ coming from last year. He doesn’t mince words so my guess is he is probably right. That means to make a challenge others must improve more. I don’t think this generation car is developed far enough to be able to speak of diminishing returns. So that is a tall order for the others. So if we approach it like that and are already sure to see RBR dominate anyway, we could flip it around and be happy there will be fireworks from 3 teams trying to be #2…? ;-)
drmouse (@drmouse)
3rd March 2023, 10:03
Ah, so that’s why Ferrari made so many baffling strategy calls last year: they wanted to prove they were Number Two!
Seriously, though, the fight for second could be interesting. If AM are really in the mix, we’ll have 2 of the best of the old guard and three of the best of the new generation battling it out. It will also be very interesting to see how Stroll manages in a top car: he has a chance to prove that he deserves a seat on talent.
If Ferrari, Mercedes and AM are really of a level, I can see Alonso being the top non-RBR finisher. Unless we see something highly unexpected from Stroll, he won’t be challenging Alonso, whereas both Ferrari and Mercedes have two strong drivers who will take points off one another. I’m tempted to put a fiver on it, actually…
baasbas
3rd March 2023, 10:12
@drmouse
It’s tough out there for an optimist. You’re doing an excellent job. Keep at it
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th March 2023, 0:59
Would be good to have a strong aston martin, obviously because alonso seems still good and hasn’t had a competitive car in over a decade and cause that will really show what stroll can do with a good car: when you have a mediocre car you can hide and say you never really got the chance in a top team, but when you fail there you’re just not good enough.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
3rd March 2023, 11:09
@keithcollantine I just thought I would point out there is an inaccuracy in this story. Alfa Romeo beat Aston to sixth place in the 2022 championship not seventh.
petebaldwin (@)
3rd March 2023, 12:03
Fully in the fight for what though? Certainly not the Championship. Even if they have a strong start, there is no chance they’ll keep up with the top 3 teams in terms of development. If they’re 4th fastest and manage to end the season in that position, that’ll represent a brilliant season for Aston Martin and they can try to push on from there.
iCarbs (@icarby)
3rd March 2023, 14:06
Alonso being magnanimous… nahhh