F1 Test Bahrain | Alonso: "Newey doesn't forget how to design a car overnight."

from Sakhir – The first week of testing was certainly very complicated for theAston Martin. The AMR26 continues to have problems, and even in this afternoon session, Lance stroll he parked the car in the lay-by and then went straight to the hospitality area with a rather tense expression on his face, a sign of a moment full of tension in the team. Silverstone. We caught up with Alonso a few minutes ago for a chat, and he tried to pour some light on the fire.

“It's complicated – Fernando told the media, including MotorionlineWe need to wait a few races to really understand how the brakes will work when we're all together on the track and how the races will evolve. From a pure driving perspective, I already said this at the car presentation: for me, the late '90s and early 2000s remain unbeatable in terms of adrenaline and driver skill, because back then you looked for the limit in the corners and made the difference there."

“Here in Bahrain, for example, turns 10-12 have always been very challenging. Once upon a time, you had to choose the level of downforce to be able to take them flat out, even during the race. It was a question of sensitivity and talent. Today, we're about 50 km/h slower on that section, not because we can't go faster, but because we want to conserve energy for the straights. Instead of taking them at 260 km/h, now we take them at 200 km/h. Anyone could drive at that speed, but the key is energy management.”

"So I understand Max's comment: as a driver, you want to make a difference by entering corners five kilometers per hour faster, but today you're limited by the energy you need for the following straight. That said, Formula 1 has always been like this: a few years ago, the difference was downforce, now it's energy management. In the end, we lower the visor and race, and it's still motorsport. Even with a rental car here in Bahrain, it's fun. We still love this sport, even if maybe after three or four races we'll have a clearer picture."

Inevitably, the discussion extends to the Aston Martin AMR26: "We're not in the position we hoped for. We started off on an uphill slope: skipping Barcelona was a disadvantage, because we didn't just miss those tests but also the previous filming days. Some teams started running as early as January 9th and had weeks to analyze data and fix small issues. For us, this in Bahrain is essentially the first real test."

Aston Martin, Alonso: "We're having problems on every run."

We're encountering small difficulties on almost every run, and this limits our fine-tuning work. If you can't do consecutive runs without interruptions, it's difficult to make progress. Maybe you're planning on trying three different suspension setups, but after the first run, an anomaly in the data emerges and you have to stop. When you return to the track, the conditions have changed. This makes it more difficult to unlock performance. Perhaps other teams have already faced these difficulties in previous days, while we're experiencing them now.

"I have no doubts about the chassis: after more than thirty years of technical dominance, Adrian hasn't forgotten how to design a competitive car overnight. We may not be at our full potential now, but we can get there. We need to resolve the issues related to the power unit and better understand the regulations. It takes time and realism: if we're behind, we need to improve as soon as possible."

It's hard to say how far we are. Lance referred to the data from Barcelona, ​​where we were about four and a half seconds behind, and in the first few days here the gap seemed similar. But it's difficult to get a precise picture. Yesterday, for example, I made a mistake in Turn 10 and from there to the finish line I gained eight tenths. This shows how unstable our current benchmarks are.

"There are laps where you gain or lose eight tenths just by changing a setting. We're not looking for two tenths of an optimization: we could unlock whole seconds when everything works properly. Next week we'll have a clearer idea. We're realistic: we won't be the fastest in Melbourne because we started late, but it's difficult to quantify the current gap exactly."

On Red Bull: “I haven't analyzed the energy data in detail, so I don't know if they're truly ahead of the others. But it seems clear they have a good power unit. It's their first time with this project; they've run a lot in Barcelona and here, too, and they look competitive. I'm impressed with the work they've done.”