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BAHRAIN — Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin sprung a surprise on the opening day of the Formula 1 2023 season by topping second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix to leave Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes trailing yesterday.
Disrupting F1’s long-established top three and confirming their status as frontrunners heading into the season-opening weekend, Aston Martin were flying in Alonso’s control and the double world champion ended Friday’s running on top with a 1:30.907 in the representative evening conditions.
Alonso, 41, was a tenth and a half quicker than the favoured Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who were split by just 0.002s.
“It’s another step in the right direction,” Alonso, a new signing for the team that finished seventh last year, said. “The car feels good. But it’s still early days.”
Charles Leclerc had unleashed pace early on in P2 to go fastest but was overhauled at the top by Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Perez and then Alonso, and finished the hour 0.460s off the front.
He ended up fourth, just ahead of Hulkenberg in the Haas, Stroll in the other Aston Martin and, another surprise challenger, Pierre Gasly in the Alpine.
McLaren’s Lando Norris has to take evasive action to avoid a crash with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in the pit lane during second practice in Bahrain.
Lewis Hamilton was the lead Mercedes in eighth, six-tenths off the pace in that extremely closely-matched midfield.The seven-time world champion appeared to be struggling for grip in a W14 car that ended Friday as the sixth-fastest on the grid. George Russell could only manage 13th.
Russell did finish practice ahead of the struggling Carlos Sainz, though, with the Ferrari driver over a second off the pace in 14th. — SkySports
Online Reporter
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