Alonso hails “hero” team mate Stroll despite first-lap clash after podium return

Fernando Alonso finished on the podium in his first race for Aston Martin then lavished praise on his team mate Lance Stroll – despite the pair colliding on the first lap of the race.

Aston Martin delivered on their pre-season promise as Alonso was the first car home behind the dominant Red Bulls. Stroll took sixth on his return to the cockpit after undergoing surgery on his wrist following a bike crash two weeks ago.

The race nearly went awry for the team on the first lap when Stroll hit Alonso at turn four while trying to pass George Russell. The pair were able to continue, but Alonso was concerned about the collision and asked whether it had been investigated.

After the race it emerged Alonso had been unaware who hit him. His race engineer Chris Cronin explained the first-lap collision. “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,” he said. “There was no damage to either car, so all okay.”

“Okay,” Alonso replied. “I thought it was George!”

“I’m so proud of you,” Alonso told the team after scoring his first podium finish since the 2021 Qatar Grand prix. “This is amazing”

“By the way, Lance is my hero,” he added. “Amazing performance from him.”

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Speaking to the official Formula 1 channel ahead of the podium ceremony, Alonso gave his congratulations to Stroll first. “My team mate had surgery 12 days ago and now he’s fighting right with everybody,” he said.

“It’s amazing for the team,” Alonso continued. “It was a great weekend and finishing on the podium in the first race of the year is just amazing.”

Aston Martin finished last season in seventh place but have improved their lap time by almost two-and-a-half seconds year-on-year in Bahrain.

“What Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second best car on race one is just unreal,” said Alonso. “Obviously, I would love to start in front of [Ferrari and Mercedes] and then use the pace. But we had not the best start today and we had to pass on track.

“So, it felt more exciting and more adrenaline for sure. So if people enjoy, we did enjoy as well so let’s go to Jeddah.”

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