Fernando Alonso has labelled his Aston Martin as the best of the rest in Formula 1 after he rolled back the years for only his second F1 podium finish since 2014.
The 41-year-old produced stunning overtakes on both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz at the Bahrain Grand Prix to end up in third behind the dominant Red Bulls of race winner Max Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez.
Alonso, on debut for the team having switched from Alpine for 2023, admitted he was surprised by his pace despite being nearly 40 seconds behind Verstappen.
He said: “We didn’t expect to be that competitive. We’ve found ourselves with the second-best car.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the result had given “the 40-somethings hope that there’s life in the old boy yet”, and backed Alonso’s sentiment that Aston Martin are quicker than last year’s closest rivals, Ferrari.
“It was enjoyable to see Fernando up there,” said Horner. “He raced very well, he’s still competitive and the Aston looks a good car. Based on one race, you’d have to say they were the second-strongest here.”
