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Aston Martin stunned the paddock with its promising pace during winter testing, which was confirmed in the Bahrain Grand Prix as Alonso scored a podium on his first race for the Silverstone-based team.
The season opener at Sakhir showed that Aston, which finished seventh in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship, has bridged the gap from the midfield to the frontrunners and that it can realistically challenge Mercedes for third.
While Alonso was curious to see if Aston’s headline-grabbing form carries over to Saudi Arabia and Australia, he said he was confident his new team could keep up development throughout the year because it started with what he called a “basic car” for Bahrain.
“Sure, we need to wait for Jeddah, Australia, very different tracks, so I’m curious to see if we can keep this form in different circuits,” Alonso said. “But, on the other hand, I think the car that we have now is just a very basic car that we launched and we start the season with this completely new concept.
“I think there …