Alonso pleasantly surprised after Qatar
Author of a good quality Qatar Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was satisfied with a much better pace at Losail than in the last Grand Prix. But he can only observe the current strength of McLaren, which is quickly catching up to Aston Martin in the championship.
He has been the strong man of the early season, behind the (possibly the only) untouchable Red Bull: seven podiums in eight races and a place on the championship podium that he had managed to solidify during the year.
But he had warned at the beginning of the year: Aston Martin does not yet have the technical means to bring about major changes and, consequently, to maintain itself as the 2nd force of the board until the end. What McLaren is currently.
At Losail however, the AMR23, with an indefatigable Alonso at the wheel, managed to snatch a nice 6th place during the Grand Prix and 8th in the Sprint. Quite something else than Singapore and Suzuka, where the Aston Martin was simply out of the race.
The Bull of Asturias was quite lucky to avoid the start card between the two Mercedes, but had to brake. Had he not, he would have come out 2nd, behind Max Verstappen. However, a consequence-free off-track exit forced him to look behind him. But overall, everything went well.
« “We were a bit more competitive than we would have thought, it was a good surprise,” » he also commented after the race. His nine points over the weekend helped Aston Martin stay ahead of the stunning McLaren in the championship.
Against two, no salvation
The problem being that Fernando Alonso seems to be alone in his team as Lance Stroll multiplies the anonymous races. And when he isn’t, it’s most often from the bad sides (notably his outburst that could earn him a sanction).
The Canadian certainly crossed the line in 10th place, but track limits got the better of the only little point he could have brought to Aston Martin. Far, far from being sufficient to counter the hellish comeback of the Norris/Piastri duo.
« McLaren is very strong, much more than us at the moment » Alonso also agreed. « For now, all we can do is respect their work to climb back up the hierarchy. But I still hope that our next three weekends will be good, with both cars in the points. We must not give up. And we could benefit from a bad weekend for McLaren to widen the gap in the standings again. »
