The new sprint format will leave a single practice session at the weekend, as Saturday’s race has been converted to a sprint qualifying and race, which will be tested for the first time in Baku before being used in the other five races this year.

The Spaniard has delivered a stellar performance for Aston Martin in the first three races, finishing third in the opening three rounds.

But he expressed concern that for Aston Martin, with its AMR23 performance now the leading entity, it would mainly create opportunities for major mistakes – especially since serious damage could affect the team’s race on Sunday.

Plus: The winners and losers of F1’s new sprint format

“It’s easy to make mistakes,” Alonso said.

“I think at the end of the third quarter, we all practiced and we all optimized laps. But in the first quarter, if you brake late or anything, you crash, especially in Baku, no Room for error and you’re going to look pretty bad.

“So I think this weekend, there’s an opportunity to make a big mistake, not a big chance. So we need to avoid that.

“When you have a competitive car, there’s only something you lose in different formats or wet races or wet qualifying or whatever. So that’s what I’m finding now with the previous years.”

Fernando Alonso and his engineers at Aston Martin F1 Team

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

Alonso reiterated that Aston Martin will only have a chance of beating Red Bull to win the first race of the season if the Milton Keynes team itself makes mistakes, and the team will treat the new format with caution.

While he hopes the low-downforce rear wing that Aston Martin has brought to Baku will help the team improve straight-line speed, Alonso said the team will have to settle for a lower score if the car isn’t capable. More.

“Unless Red Bull makes some mistakes, I don’t see an opportunity to take advantage of it or take advantage of something,” he said. “So it’s a weekend of avoiding mistakes rather than creating something special.

“So this is something we need to approach in a very cautious manner.

“Here we put a low downforce wing on the rear of the car to try and go for a higher top speed, but we don’t know if that’s enough to keep up with the top teams.

“But I think there’s going to be an interesting part of the season now, but we know that if we finish sixth and seventh on a certain weekend, we have to accept it, which is probably more in line with our natural position.

“But we will not give up our hopes, especially to keep challenging Red Bull and try to win a race one day.”