Fernando Alonso, del equipo Aston Martin F1 Team AMR24, no espera repetir el podio de la temporada pasada en el Gran Premio de Bahréin. Reconoce que el equipo estaba en una posición más fuerte hace 12 meses. Alonso aprovechó el resurgimiento de Aston Martin como un equipo líder el año pasado, asegurando el tercer lugar en su carrera de debut y logrando seis podios en las ocho carreras siguientes. Sin embargo, a pesar del optimismo del equipo con respecto al mejorado AMR24, Alonso cree que no son tan competitivos en comparación con sus rivales.
During the FP2 session at dusk, Alonso finished in third place on the time sheets, less than three tenths of a second behind Lewis Hamilton, who led a Mercedes one-two. Alonso expressed satisfaction with the drivability of the Aston Martin 2024 car. However, he acknowledged the challenge of assessing the team’s position relative to others at this early stage.
Alonso stated, «It was good. Obviously, we don’t know what the others are doing. We completed our program. We know the test tires well, so we sacrificed a bit of FP1 using the Mediums, to focus more on performance with two Softs. Now, in FP2, we learned a bit more about the car. I believe we made some changes to the setup that we are quite satisfied with the result, so we’ll see tomorrow when we put it all together in qualifying, same for everyone.»
While Alonso recognizes the need for Aston Martin to find more speed, he also emphasized that the Bahrain Grand Prix marks the beginning of a record calendar of 24 races. He remains calm and positive, understanding that the team’s performance can change significantly depending on fuel load and other factors. Alonso declared, «I think 12 months ago we were in a stronger position, I would say, here in Bahrain. But yes, we’ll see. I’m happy. I’m going into the first qualifying of the season with positive thoughts. Thinking about a very long season, so we need to start off on the right foot for sure, but it’s not just Bahrain. I think we need to look forward as well to the upcoming events.»
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll, Alonso’s teammate, showed improvement, moving from 14th position in FP1 to eighth position in the second practice session. Stroll is optimistic after making positive adjustments to his car. He stated, «Overall, it was a solid day here in Bahrain. I think we took a step forward in FP2, the car behaved well with the changes we made to the setup. I haven’t fully analyzed the race pace yet, but the car behaved very well, so that’s positive. Obviously, it’s still early and we don’t know what the others were doing with their fuel loads in the session. We’ll know a lot more after qualifying and the race.»
