Fernando Alonso was impressed by Aston Martin’s strong practice pace but remains cautious over the marque’s hopes for Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Alonso’s efforts in FP2 saw the Spaniard lead Mercedes’ George Russell by over two-tenths of a second after the weekend’s first running under the floodlights.
Aston Martin shone in the early stages of the 2023 season, seeing Alonso claim podiums at six of the opening eight rounds of the campaign including a third-placed finish in Jeddah.
However, this season Aston Martin has so far struggled to reach the same lofty heights as it did 12 months ago with its heavily redesigned challenger, the AMR24, emerging as the fifth fastest car last weekend in Bahrain.
A return to Jeddah saw the two-time champion vault towards the top of the timing sheets from the get go. FP1 saw the Spaniard second fastest, just over a tenth adrift of pacesetter Max Verstappen.
Alonso was quick once again in FP2 with his time of 1:28.827s good enough to sit over two-tenths clear of the field after the completion of each driver’s qualifying simulations.
“I feel good,” the 42-year-old said after his impressive showing on Thursday.
“Obviously it’s only free practice. As we saw last year and also in Bahrain, we are faster in free practice than in qualifying. I think we run different strategy, in terms of fuel loads, engine modes and so on.
“We keep our programme ahead. [There were] not really any issues with the car. Set-up possibilities [are] also quite open for tomorrow. But yeah, definitely a good Thursday for us.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Alonso said he had “no idea” about where the team ranks having not seen any data.
Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll narrowly avoided disaster after making contact with the barriers at Turn 22 in FP1.
Undeterred by the encounter, Stroll commented after FP2 that it’s “always fun to drive here.”
The Canadian ended the evening sixth fastest, five-tenths adrift of Alonso.
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