Alonso didn’t ease up and was 2nd in Jeddah after Verstappen

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There are many doubts. He Aston Martin it was the second best car in the first race of the year Bahrain, becoming strong due to his better tire management on a track with maximum wear. But its worse straight-line speed and fast corner performance compared to its rivals mean that, on paper, less is expected of the green cars in Saudi Arabia. But Fernando Alonso is in charge of blowing up all the rennet theories. In the absence of all the teams discovering their aces in the classification and knowing the fuel loads and engine maps used, so far, the start of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso is encouraging, allowing his fans to look back on the podium on Sunday. Max Verstappen led the first day of training, beyond Free Practice 2 in Fernando Alonso (2nd) by 0″208with the ‘Checo’ Pérez in third place at 0″299.

Free Practice 2 Hours in Jeddah:

1. Max Verstappen (PB/Red Bull) 1’29″603
2. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) 0″208

3. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) at 0″299
4. Esteban Ocon (ESP/Alpine) at 0″436
5. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) at 0″467
6. Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine) at 0″497
7. Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) at 0″507
8. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Haas) at 0″578
9. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) at 0″738
10. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) at 0″989
11. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) at 0″996
12. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren) at 1″118
13. Yuki Tsunoda (JAP/AlphaTauri) at 1″173
14. Alexander Albon (TAI/Williams) at 1″207
15. Kevin Magnussen (DIN/Haas) at 1″217
16. Guanyu Zhou (CHI/Alfa Romeo) at 1″234
17. Nyck de Vries (PB/AlphaTauri) at 1″318
18. Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams) at 1″356
19. Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren) at 1″361
20.Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo) at 1″449

Alonso warned in Bahrain: “If we are competitive in the next two races (Jeddah and Australia), we will be competitive throughout 2023.” Aston Martin went to Saudi Arabia with settings more designed for fast corners and needed to study the performance of the car in such fast turns. And as Pedro De la Rosa, ambassador of Aston Martin, pointed out from the box of the English team on ‘DAZN F1’, the start was better than expected. The car showed great versatility and adaptability to a circuit other than Bahrain and showed its credentials to other contenders. Whenever Alonso tried it with different tires, the times came out without difficulty. Both at the start with medium tires and in the qualifying simulation with soft rubber.

Fernando complained of a slight understeer and on his first attempt his car overshot one of the corners. But when he went out again with soft rubber, he improved his time without breaking a sweat.

Saturday could change everything, just like in Bahrain

Of course. It should be abundantly clear that Aston Martin has a stronger weapon in Bahrain than its direct racing rivals such as Ferrari and Mercedes: better breakdowns. Something here will not be very relevant. Therefore, here it may be more important that Alonso makes a good classification to get positions before the race. However, the question remains. In Bahrain, the Spaniard led the previous free practice, but one lap into qualifying, when Red Bull and Ferrari put all the meat on their machine’s grill, he found himself passed by both teams. It wouldn’t be surprising if it happened again here because of the bigger engine power of these cars. Furthermore, where does straight line speed make such a difference.

Ferrari conserved before attacking

Of course, for this, Ferrari has to improve a lot. Charles Leclerc was 8th at 0″578 and Carlos Sainz was 10th at 0″989. Marc Gené, on DAZN F1, calmed things down, making it clear that Ferrari were more focused on working towards the race as they were confident they would be quick after one lap. He indicated that the Italians were running with a very conservative engine map. And when they activate all the power, on a track with so many straights, the Ferrari has to be on top. Proof of this is that one of his client teams, Haas, is 81 years old with Hülkenberg, possibly because the German tried a more aggressive engine map. And in that sense, attention to Alpine. Esteban Ocon was 4th ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell (5th), with Hamilton 11th at 0″996.

The French car performed very well on low-load tracks at the start of the year such as Jeddah and Australia and could break into some of the front positions of the podium contenders if it repeats its performance in this evolution of a car.

In this context, it is important to say that Ferrari just suffered a double problem with Leclerc’s control unit, which set up third in this second GP of the year and for this reason will have 10 penalty places on the grid. In addition, Ferrari mounted in two of its cars, as a precaution after this problem, the second combustion engine in both cars. That might make him calmer this Friday. Carlos Sainz said he was not comfortable with the balance of the car, but since it happened in Bahrain, from Friday to Saturday Ferrari must fix it so that the Spaniard can fight for a good place.

Aston Martin, great speed; Red Bull, in another league

In terms of race pace, Aston Martin also showed strength. Red Bull seems to be on another planet, rolling well in the race simulation with soft rubber (Verstappen) and with medium (Pérez). While ‘Checo’ scored 1’34”, Alonso rolled a low 1’35”, times for the Asturian better than Leclerc and Russell with the same compound. Alonso and Aston Martin’s race pace looks better after a good first day for the Silverstone men.

Source: La Verdad

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