Formula 1 | Palmer confident: “Alonso can win in 2023”

Fernando Alonso is back with great fanfare on the front pages of all the newspapers formula 1 and not only. The Spanish driver, who passed over the winter in Aston Martin he immediately achieved a podium with his new team, which was able to build a car capable of fighting for the podium. There AMR23 it was, after the Red Bull the fastest in Bahrain, second only to the unrivaled RB19 but far superior, especially in race pace, compared to Ferrari e Mercedes, the two greats disappointed by the Sakhir trip. Jolyon Palmer, former driver and now part of the Formula 1 talent, believes that this season the Spanish champion will return to success after ten years of waiting.

“Alonso waited a decade to finally have a competitive car – Palmer said on the official Formula 1 website. He finally seems to have one at his disposal: Aston Martin has been going strong since testing, and from the first lap with the new car he seemed at ease, much more than most of the other drivers, it was clearly evident. At the start of the race weekend, there was a lot of enthusiasm in the team, but also among the other professionals present in the paddock, there was fear towards Aston on the part of its rivals. Although qualifying tells us that the deficit on pure performance is still high, certainly from Red Bull, and a little from Ferrari too, the race pace told us how competitive they are on Sunday."

“If Fernando hadn't been hit by Stroll on the first lap, things would have gone even better for him. He lost positions to Mercedes, and that was fantastic for us, so we saw his comeback and the battles on the track with Hamilton and Russell. Every time I raced wheel to wheel with Fernando it was always different compared to the others, because he has an incredible ability to read race situations, he has great peripheral vision and thinks in advance, even of different corners, how to plan a surgical overtaking, even at 41 years old."

“To pass Leclerc if he had remained on the track? We can argue about it: he was 12 seconds behind him at that moment, he passed Sainz very calmly, while the Ferrari driver fought to keep Hamilton behind. Undoubtedly though the Aston Martin was the fastest car in race trim, and without the collision with Stroll on the first lap it would have had a much easier life despite Charles' new tyres. Aston Martin has a wonderful base and with significantly more development time than their direct rivals, so 2023 could be Alonso's return to winning season: he has not lost his skills and hunger for success, this is undeniable".