Verstappen believes Aston Martin can win in 2023
Was Fernando Alonso’s third place in the season opener in Bahrain just the beginning? The Spaniard was almost 40 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen at the finish. But the world champion still believes Aston Martin can win races in 2023.
“Race wins are definitely possible,” he emphasizes, recalling the time when Mercedes dominated a few years ago: “I was in the same position when I finished a few races 20 to 40 seconds behind the winner.”
Nevertheless, at that time he was able to win “two or three races” per season. He now also trusts Alonso. “Sometimes there are routes that suit the car better, and then everything just comes together,” he reports from his own experience.
Of course, a bit of “luck” couldn’t hurt either. “But they definitely have a strong package,” said Verstappen. We are excited! You should definitely not completely rule out Alonso victories after the start…
Key: The reason for McLaren’s false start
Problems in the test, no points in the first race of the season. What’s going on at McLaren? According to technical director James Key, a late change in the aerodynamics philosophy is the trigger for the current problems of the team from Woking.
Last summer, teams and the FIA agreed to raise the underbody edges by 15 millimeters to combat “porpoising”. “It sounds like a small change,” explains Key.
“But these subfloors are huge and very sensitive,” he emphasizes. And apparently McLaren was hit harder than other teams by this rule change. You can read Key’s full explanation here!
Russell: “Second place is not good enough”
Incidentally, the Briton would personally have no problem sacrificing the 2023 season completely, because he emphasizes: “We are here because we want to fight for championships and victories. Nobody remembers who will be second or third.”
“For me personally, it makes no difference whether I finish second or seventh in the drivers’ championship this year. I’m here to win. And I want to win titles. I want to win races,” clarifies Russell.
“Every single person at Mercedes wants that,” he emphasizes and states: “Second place is not good enough.” In other words, it’s better to sacrifice a whole year and fight at the top again in 2024 than finish second in each of the next three years.
And if that means making “dramatic changes,” “then we’re going to do it,” Russell said.
Russell: Might have to write off the season
At Aston Martin you dream of podiums and maybe even victories, at Mercedes you might want to write off the season after the first race. “We’re here to win,” said George Russell after the season opener.
“If we want to sacrifice a few races or part of the season to have a chance of having a car that can fight,” said Russell, then that’s a serious option, “because we’re clearly a long way behind,” he stresses.
It may therefore be necessary to concentrate on “the second half of the season” or even “look to next year,” said Russell. In other words: Check off 2023 now and focus fully on 2024.
Consistent with what Toto Wolff said.
Alonso dreams of victories
His team boss is rather reserved, but Alonso himself declared aggressively after P3 in Bahrain that he is dreaming of a win, “because if you finish P3 in the first race, then there are still 22 chances this season,” he recalls.
“I remember last year when we [mit Alpine] in Canada were on the front row of the grid after a wet qualifying session. Anything can happen in 22 races with different conditions,” said the two-time world champion.
In any case, he will give everything to get the chance to win this year. “Maybe we need some help,” he admits, explaining that in the past you’ve had to rely on problems from the top teams to make it onto the podium.
In such a case, 2023 is even “perhaps more than a podium” possible. “Let’s hope so,” said Alonso.
Krack: Need to keep their feet on the ground
Verstappen believes Aston Martin can win in 2023, and team-mate Sergio Perez also explains: “You definitely have a good car. You will definitely be a candidate on some tracks [im Kampf um den Sieg] be.”
However, team boss Mike Krack warns: “We mustn’t lose our feet and start dreaming of podiums straight away. We knew we weren’t bad. We knew we had strong race pace.”
“But there are so many things that can go wrong,” he emphasizes and reveals: “To be honest, after two laps I didn’t dream of a podium finish.” Because Alonso got off to a relatively bad start and only caught up later.
In addition, one should not forget that it would have been much more difficult without Leclerc’s failure. “So I think you can dream of podiums. But you shouldn’t assume it,” said Krack.
For our readers…
… Alonso was already the driver of the day in Bahrain. In our editorial department, however, he only came second internally. In our photo series we explained why Verstappen was even better for us at the weekend:
Hello again!
Hello and welcome to a new edition of our Formula 1 news ticker. We’ll keep it short today: This Tuesday, you’ll get the usual mix of news and entertainment about our beloved premier class at this point.
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