Fernando Alonso was keen to make his start to life with Aston Martin - and was first on the road for F1 post-season testing at Yas Marina 🟢 📝 LukeSmithF1 goes through what we've learned from Alonso's first test with the team in green ⬇️
As 9am came around and the light at the end of the pit lane went green, Alonso immediately peeled out of the Aston Martin garage, running in a sponsorless livery, blank overalls and a camo dazzle helmet, and was the first man out of the pit lane.
Less than 18 hours after making his final Alpine appearance in the F1 season finale, Alonso was already starting life with Aston Martin by completing a seat fitting on Monday and getting to know his future colleagues. Although he will not officially start until 1 January, Alonso knew the test would be an important chance to get ahead of the game for 2023.
When the first opinions were cast about Alonso’s decision to ditch Alpine for Aston Martin in 2023, one of the simplest questions was: why leave a team fourth in the championship for the one in ninth? Although Alonso noted the car philosophy was “very different” compared to what he had at Alpine, he did not appear to struggle getting in the right groove with it, saying it was “behaving well”. He pointed out that on his first run, he did a 1m26.6s lap time and joked: “It’s three-tenths off my best time - so adaptation is nearly over!”Alonso will hardly be starting life with Aston Martin at an especially low ebb.
“I cannot be overconfident for sure, because everything is going to change for next year,” Alonso said. “But the feeling I had today in the garage with the guys and the potential of the team, the talent that I see in the engineering room here is outstanding. I’m really, really, really happy right now.”Car comfort is the main thing to fix before next season
Through the 97 laps of running, Alonso would have been making a mental list of everything in the cockpit that was different and what adjustments would be required. Alonso said that given the Aston Martin car in 2023 is going to be “not anywhere near” what he drove today, focusing on those smaller elements was more important to him than getting a feel for car balance or its characteristics. The muscle memory needs to be rewired after two years with Alpine.
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