After the AMR23's promising testing pace raised eyebrows in the F1 paddock, Aston Martin confirmed its leap forward by taking third and sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
As Aston grabbed headlines by helping Alonso claim his first podium in two years, the Silverstone team's former chief Szafnauer was keen to point out that the Bahrain result reminded him of the 2014 race.
In its Force India guise – with Szafnauer at the helm – Sergio Perez took third and Nico Hulkenberg fifth when Bahrain was the third round of the world championship.
“Well, they made the jump. I mean, to be fair to them, it's always been a good and efficient team,” said Szafnauer, who left Aston Martin for Alpine at the start of 2022.
“Congratulations to them but I think Force India in 2014 were exactly the same: in about the same relative position, podium-winning. I think [Perez] qualified fifth in 2014 and had really good race pace.
“I congratulate them for making the big step up from last year.”
While Szafnauer admitted Aston will be hard to catch for Alpine, he rather wants to focus on the Enstone team's own deficit to the leaders to gauge its progress.
“What we've got to look at is how close we were relative to pole from last year,” he explained. “How close were we on race pace, and where could we have finished had we not had our operational issues relative to those: was it better than last year or not?
“Because what we need to do every year is catch up. And yeah, Aston made huge improvements and we've got to catch them too.”
Alpine looked strong in Bahrain after an enigmatic pre-season test, but its race weekend was hampered by setbacks for both drivers.
Esteban Ocon qualified ninth, but his race unravelled through a trio of penalties, beginning with a 5-second penalty for lining up incorrectly at the start, and he ultimately retired.
A poor qualifying for new signing Pierre Gasly, who admitted he had gone too aggressive on the set-up, saw him qualify last after exceeding track limits on his fastest lap.
But the Frenchman excelled in the race and climbed through the order to finish ninth, showing Alpine's potential.
It gives Szafnauer the belief that Alpine's aim to hang on to 2022's fourth-place finish is still on the cards despite Aston's surge.
“I think so, we still have to do that,” he said. “I can't remember where we were last year for the first race, but probably in a similar position.
“I think, last year, Alfa [Romeo] beat us here. Maybe even Haas beat us. I can't remember. Aston didn't, McLaren were close to us. So, although there are different competitors, we have to do what we did last year, and finish fourth and get closer to the top three.
“This race was not a normal race for us, we usually don't make these operational type mistakes. If we did have a normal race from ninth, I think Lance was just ahead of us. And the question to me is, if we had a normal race, could we have beaten them?
“I don't know that yet, but we've got to reflect on this and do better. It's not where we want to be, but I think we're capable of doing better.”
