Alonso also leads Free Practice 3 and aims to fight for pole position in Bahrain!

With each passing day, with each session ending, this is more true. fan of Fernando Alonso and Formula 1 They can dream more than ever of a great work from Oviedo in Formula 1 Bahrain GP. Reason and logic say that Verstappen is the favorite for pole this Saturday at F1 2023’s Bahrain GP (4:00 pm), but Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin are also in action. The Asturian and the green box are determined to put an end to any theory, surprising every day. They were surprised by the tests and many thought that the Aston Martin could be the third or fourth best car. On the first day in Bahrain, they already put him in the second best car after Alonso led FP2 and showed race pace almost on par with Verstappen’s Red Bull. The doubt is in the classification, in the actual speed for a lap. It looks like Max will be difficult to fight for a lap this Saturday and everyone expects Red Bull to save more cards and take a step forward in FP3, or even for Ferrari to overtake Aston Martin by improving from one day to the next. But the only certainty is when the cars take to the track again in the third free practice sessions before today’s qualifying, Fernando Alonso was once again the fastest with only 5 thousandths of an advantage over Verstappen, but more than a tenth over Pérez. Unbelievable.

Fernando Alonsoon his first mission in Aston Martin, the brand that accompanied James Bond in his exploits many times, You have a license to dream. You can think big. This was confirmed after the Spaniard came back to lead a lap in his last attempt in a qualifying simulation. The track is hotter than it will be in qualifying, the conditions are different, and we still don’t know the fuel loads and how much engine power all the contenders can save. But for now, Fernando is in front again.

In the final minutes of Free Practice 3, Hamilton, Verstappen, Pérez, Alonso and, moments later, the two Ferraris, came out on track in search of their fastest lap with soft rubber. Mercedes showed a step forward, but not enough. And only Verstappen can come close to Fernando Alonso. The Dutchman placed only 5 thousandths. We repeat: the theory says that Max is favorite for the pole. But the first position of the Spaniard allows him to dream something crazy and unthinkable. In fact, even Fernando was surprised when he was told that it was a radio first. “Really? It’s beautiful”, commented the Spaniard. Irony? Theater? Reality? The court will pass the sentence today from 4:00 pm

Sainz is improving but still a long way off

Carlos Sainz began to correct his course at the Bahrain F1 GP. He finished the pre-season tests very satisfied with the sensations and comfort he had in his car, but on the first day in Bahrain, he saw a different car, which did not give him the same confidence and which bounced when right I hope that in Maranello, with the analysis of the data, they will find the key to setting up the car to recover the sensations this Saturday, and that was confirmed in FP3. Carlos felt more comfortable again, like in the exams, to be all qualy now. In fact, the Spaniard beat the Monegasque in his first attempt on soft rubber at the start of the session. Despite this, in his last attempt at the fastest lap he was 4 tenths behind the Monegasque, something that shows he still needs to make another small step in qualifying today.

However, the most worrying thing for Ferrari is that, despite the improvement, Hamilton, along with Mercedes, made more progress. At least, before everyone puts all the meat on the spit in their engines to ‘fit’ and compete without saving anything. Hamilton is 4th at 0″215. Leclerc is 5th at 0″284. Russell was 6th at 0″391. Stroll, Alonso’s Aston Martin teammate, was 7th at 0″579 and Sainz, 8th at 0″605. Not enough for the reds , where more is expected of ‘qualy’ from now on .