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Aston Martin one year ahead of schedule to become F1 contender

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Alonso joins Aston Martin after a dismal 2022 season when Silverstone finished seventh with just 55 points.

While it made encouraging developments throughout last season, its giant leap in 2023 has been one of the talking points so far this year, with Aston heading to Baku for second place, the Spaniard’s third in a row. Get on the podium.

Ambitious billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll’s long-term goal for his team is to challenge for a world title rather than a podium, and team boss Mike Krack has revealed that Stroll has been pushing the team to achieve more than after a surprisingly strong start sit still.

But according to Alonso, his new team’s winter breakthrough has shaved a year off its summit plans.

“I want 2023 to be a learning season and 2024 could be challenging things like Ferrari and Mercedes,” Alonso said.

“But we challenged them in Bahrain in the first game, so obviously everything looks more positive now.”

Alonso cautioned that the real test of Aston’s progress will follow once rival teams start bringing in substantial upgrades and the pace of the team’s season-long development is put to the test, starting with Azerbaijan.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third, podium

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third, podium

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

“Now we have to deliver. That’s what we’ll see very soon,” he added.

“From Baku, Imola, Barcelona, ​​the team will start to upgrade the car and we need to be the top team in that as well. On the track, but off the track, we need to learn a lot throughout the season to hopefully Become a contender in 2024.”

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Alonso said the speed of his and team-mate Lance Stroll’s AMR23 car meant the team had been able to change its approach and now they had more breathing room to get through Q1 and Q2, a day in 2022 for Stroll. Dream and former partner Sebastian Vettel.

“We are now closer to the weekend and focus more on the top teams, which has changed our approach in FP1,” explained Alonso.

“It changes the tire choice we have for qualifying, and how you run in qualifying. You don’t really need to be too crazy because you know you’re going to go through Q1 and Q2.

Yes, it changed a lot and made things easier, and I’m happy about that. “

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Explained: Ferrari's ambitious upgrades for the SF-23 in Barcelona

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At the Spanish Grand Prix, F1 entered a dedicated permanent track for the first time since the season opener in Bahrain. Due to the nature of the Circuit de Catalunya, teams usually implement a lot of upgrade packages on their cars, as it is well known that if a team performs well in Barcelona, ​​they stand a good chance of doing well for most of the remainder of the calendar. repertoire.

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F1 drivers fear unintended consequences of Barcelona track changes

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For the first time since 2006, the championship will do away with the oft-maligned slow 14-15 left-right corner and will revert to two high-speed open right-hand corners to complete a lap.

This has increased the top speed of the final corner to 170mph and is intended to allow drivers to follow the main straight more closely into the slipstream and overtake.

While single-car racing got rave reviews from drivers for the changes to improve lap speed during Friday’s practice session, they don’t think the tweaks will help the pass as envisioned.

With the Pirelli tires’ lack of overtaking so far in 2023 due in part to overheating rather than degradation, AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries believes that will again be a major factor this weekend.

He said: “Let’s not jump to conclusions, but obviously the main reason for the change was for a better game.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to give us a better game…the left forward has suffered a lot.

Insight: What we learned from Friday’s practice for the F1 2023 Spanish GP

“It’s a tough job at the front. You can feel it now, on long distances, when you’re behind other cars it’s hard to keep up.

“Now there’s a lot of focus on the front axle, whereas before, there was a little bit of both…they did (change) for the right purpose, let’s put it that way.”

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo Racing

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo Racing

Photography: Alfa Romeo

De Vries reckons it’s possible to advance two laps before “you end up paying the price” because of so much tire wear.

Drivers also mentioned the 2023 car, fueling concerns that the revised Barcelona lap would not lead to an increase in overtaking.

While the switch to ground effect is intended to help the car follow more closely, winter developments increase levels of dirty air. Drivers commented that this season was significantly harder to keep up with than the previous one.

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas told Autosport: “The faster the more fun. (But the level of overtaking) will be the same. The last corner is hard to follow.

“It’s just faster, but I don’t think it will improve overtaking. It’s a bit bumpy over there.

“So, there’s a little bit of movement, which makes it more challenging, but it’s a cool corner. It’s superfast. Definitely more challenging, but also for the tyres.

“It felt like the tires were traveling a lot in those two corners.”

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Windsor: 'Bad news for competition that Verstappen is SO relaxed'

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Max Verstappen was the fastest driver on the track at all hours of Friday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The fact that the Red Bull driver also had time to listen to Helmut Marko’s call on the radio should cause concern for the race, according to Peter Windsor.

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