F1 | Race pace analysis: Alonso and Aston Martin fly to Bahrain, Ferrari more no than yes

The first day of free practice of the 2023 season has ended formula 1. In Bahrain we saw a huge surprise, at least compared to recent years, but not as expected: theAston Martin he seems to have found the key to the problem, and therefore takes center stage both in terms of his flying lap and his race pace. Fernando Alonso in fact he was the fastest driver on Friday, incredible to say, but the two-time world champion seems to have discovered some cards of his AMR23, a car that evidently managed to make a crazy step over the winter. Obviously not to forget Red BullWhich, together with Verstappen e Perez remains the favorite to win on Sunday.

Let's go in order though, as always we start from the tires that are there Pirelli has chosen for this weekend, and we are referring to the three hardest compounds in the 2023 range, namely C1/Hard-White, C2/Medium-Yellow and C3/Soft-Red. The softer tire seems to be the most suitable to be used in the first part of the race, and with a probable two-stop strategy, it could also be used again for a subsequent stint. With this mix the Ferrari it seems to suffer particularly, already from the tests, and yet Leclerc e Sainz they insisted on trying it to the limit today, but the results do not seem to be satisfactory. Obviously the opposite is true for Red Bull and Aston Martin, the only one to have differentiated the long run tests as you can see in our updated table.

On the flying lap, problems for Carlos Sainz, only fourteenth, while Aston confirmed itself as the fastest, with Red Bull close by. Indecipherable Mercedes, which still seems to have problems in both configurations. The purely initial feeling is that the Maranello team will opt for a strategy far from the long-term use of the red tyre, but clearly these are aspects that we cannot evaluate with certainty. Very curious to see the progress of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso, who preaches calm, but a placing in the podium area on Sunday, to date, is anything but science fiction. However, we also expect a reaction from Ferrari, which seemed more at ease, especially with Leclerc, in the second run with the red tyres. Evidently with a full tank of fuel, the SF-23 struggles in these conditions to make the softer compound work.