The green miracle is already a reality. Fernando Alonso took the podium with his third place at the Bahrain GP in his first race of the 2023 championship, the first of his stage at Aston Martin. A masterful overtaking of Lewis Hamilton and the breakdown of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari raised the Spaniard to a third drawer that confirms the license to dream this year.
"This is a lovely car to drive" (it is a pleasure to drive this car) said Alonso in the last few laps, on his way to his 99th podium in Formula 1, just four away from equaling Kimi Räikkönen as the fifth driver in history in get on the drawer more times. A milestone that, seen what has been seen in Bahrain, can be a reality.
The start was charged with tension. Verstappen retained the privileged position of pole position in the face of harassment from Leclerc, who swiped Pérez's wallet. Behind, Sainz remained in fourth place, but the one who lost the most ground was Alonso, when he gave up two spaces at turn 4, devoured by the Mercedes.
At that point in the right hander, his teammate Stroll hit him coming in past. "Someone has hit me," said the Asturian, without knowing who. Although the blow, clean and on the wheel, did not cause any mechanical mishap. Of course, he came close to having carried it off, unintentionally, and the mishap helped Russell pass him and drop him to 7th place.
The first duel of the season was with George Russell for sixth position. The Mercedes degraded more and Alonso was able to throw himself on top looking for the gap to overtake. An Aston Martin fighting with a Mercedes, as had not been seen in other seasons. The Spaniard prepared the maneuver and conquered the position on lap 13. His first overtaking in green.
The following first stops by Hamilton, Leclerc and Sainz left Alonso provisionally third, behind the two Red Bulls (16 seconds away). But it only lasted one lap, because the Spaniard went to the pit-stop. Upon returning to the track (v. 16), Fernando had consolidated the overtake on Russell, but lost position to Bottas, who undercut him. Therefore, he was likewise seventh. And with Russell behind.
The opposition from the Finn from Alfa Romeo did not last long, whom he easily overtook on lap 17. His second victim.
With hard tyres, Alonso's Aston Martin showed better pace than the two Mercedes. He was gradually approaching Hamilton (in 7 laps, from 20 to 27, he shaved 2 seconds off him), and he was also moving away from Russell (he added 2.8 seconds). The Spaniard began to prepare for the assault on fifth position in this intermediate phase of the race.
Ahead, Checo Pérez, with soft, gave an account of Leclerc, with hard, to recover second position (lap 26), as at the start.
The long-awaited battle between Hamilton and Alonso frustrated for a few moments. First, because the Englishman increased his pace and moved away from the Asturian, but above all because Mercedes changed strategy and brought Lewis's second stop forward (v. 31) "to protect ourselves from Alonso's possible undercut," according to the star's team. to the English pilot. Hostilities broke out between the two squires. Stroll passed Russell for 7th.
The maneuver went well for Mercedes. When Alonso stopped five laps later (v. 36), the car from the Hamilton star passed in front with an advantage of 1.6 seconds. He saved the undercut from the Asturian, who remained sixth. But they were stuck again, with the fight open, with 1 second of separation. Nothing.
What came next, laps 38 and 39, was a spectacle, a duel from the past, an Alonso against Hamilton as in McLaren 2007. The Spaniard, who set the best lap of the race (v. 37), stealthily approached the Mercedes , set to 0.4, and began to look for them at the seams. He launched a first attack at Turn 4, Alonso ahead by a few metres, but slipped away and Hamilton regained position. A turn later, the Spanish returned to the charge. He unexpectedly went for an inside at Turn 10 and left Hamilton dry. Fernando was already fifth. The Englishman, without actually replying to him, stayed very close.
Alonso's fifth place became fourth with the abandonment, immediately afterwards (v. 41), of Leclerc, due to a battery problem. Sainz ascended to the podium, third. His friend Fernando was a couple of seconds away. But the problems also visited the Ferrari from Madrid and the Aston Martin came within a second.
It was unavoidable. Alonso also ate his friend Sainz, after a tough battle with the Ferrari (v. 46) and another driving skill from the Asturian. With 10 laps to go, the Asturian was already in a podium position, with the two Red Bulls far behind, Verstappen 25 seconds behind and Pérez 15 seconds away. The only threat was from behind, if Hamilton was able to overtake Sainz and recover the 2 seconds of separation with the Aston Martin.
But in those final 10 laps nothing happened anymore. Sainz kept his fourth place safe, Hamilton did not attack and Alonso was able to gallop calmly towards the podium, the first since Qatar 2021 (with Alpine, the only one he achieved with the French team, the only one since his return to F1 in 2021). . "What you have done, guys. What you have done. I am very proud of you," regaled the Aston Martin team with the newly named Driver of the Day by fans around the world.
The two Red Bulls, in another orbit, signed the double, with Verstappen starting the same way 2022 ended: winning.
