Alonso and Sainz trigger the illusion

The test of both drivers has awakened confidence among Spanish fans, who believe in the Asturian's '33' and in the return of Ferrari

   MADRID, 1 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) will be the two Spanish representatives in the new Formula 1 campaign, which starts this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit, in what will be the 20th season of the Asturian, the most A 41-year-old veteran, in the World Cup with his motivation intact, while the man from Madrid faces his ninth year at the 'Gran Circo', his third at the 'Scuderia', still with a lot of potential.

After 'The Plan' without success in Alpine last year, the two-time champion has managed with some very exciting and competitive tests in Bahrain to build faith and belief in 'The Mission' and victory number 33 with Aston Martin, a team that seems to have revived with the Spaniard in command, while Sainz continues to work hard to be a key player in Ferrari's reunion with the title.

With Red Bull's clear dominance since the test bench began in Sakhir, Alonso was a 'clock' on the Persian Gulf track, with very exciting race simulation batches, always close to Max Verstappen. The second day in Bahrain was the most productive for the Spaniard, finishing in third place (1:32.205), just half a second behind the current champion (1:31.650).

Both Aston Martin, with a practically new car, and Alonso were the sensation of the tests, putting their heads among the theoretical candidates -Ferrari and Mercedes- to be the alternative, with much more to gain than lose. And it is that, although the preseason could be a mere mirage, the AMR23 looks very good to, at least, be the fourth team on the grid and look face to face at Charles Leclerc, Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and ahead of Alpine and McLaren.

The famous sidepods, halfway between Red Bull and Ferrari, seem to give the AMR23 stability and consistency on the track superior to its theoretical competitors in the middle zone. And they make it an agile and 'easy' car to tame, which even avoids, like the Red Bulls, annoying 'porpoising'. And this aroused surprise within the grid itself, with the teams 'surrendering' to the proposal of the English team.

"Mercedes, Ferrari and maybe Aston Martin. I'm not intrigued by any other," said the prestigious technical director of the Red Bull team, Adrian Newey, about the potential adversaries for the energy drink team. From Mercedes they also praised Aston Martin. "They could be second (in Bahrain)," said his team manager Toto Wolff.

Even Fernando Alonso himself acknowledged that the pace of the AMR23 exceeded expectations. "On the last day, for example, we did a 57-lap race simulation, which we are going to do in Bahrain. Ferrari was doing the same program, with the same gasoline and the same stops, and we were faster than them," he said. after the official pre-season test.

Arguments, still uncertain and somewhat solvable, but enough to generate an aura of religion that will surround the Asturian in the premiere of the 2023 season this weekend. The objective: victory number 33 of Alonso's career, who has not climbed to the first drawer since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, with Ferrari.

Last season started in the best way for Ferrari, being far superior in terms of speed with two wins in the first three races. None of them from the Spanish Carlos Sainz, who had to wait for the tenth Grand Prix at Silverstone to celebrate his first victory in Formula 1.

But in the end, the 'Scuderia' project was not up to the task, with reliability and strategy problems and leaving the title on a platter to a driven and unstoppable Verstappen who did not waste the 'gifts' of the 'Prancing Horse'. The man from Madrid could only finish fifth in the World Cup, behind a George Russell with a car with worse performance a priori.

However, the 2023 preseason has been another story and they have established Ferrari as a team with the potential to question the power of Red Bull. They have rolled fast, gaining that extra point of reliability that they missed in 2022, which gives them a starting situation that already occurred last year and from which they should have learned.

The man from Madrid went from less to more, improving his times day by day in the Bahrain test and setting a competitive 1:31.036, in the same tenth as his teammate Leclerc, although happier because he seems more adapted to the car than the last year. "Reliability was again very good and we have been able to explore all the configurations that we set out to test. The goal is to be ready for next week," said Sainz after the second day of preseason.

However, Sainz's progression and improvement must be up to the enormous challenge that Ferrari faces in 2023, now without Mattia Binotto in the structure, and with recovering the title as an obsession. And it is that the last champion of the 'Scuderia' was the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. It has been 16 years since the 'Prancing Horse' has not 'ridden' a pilot who can uncork the champagne with the title in his backpack. In 2023, Carlos Sainz wants to become the new hero of the Italian team.