Aston Martin has played down the significance of the contact that was made between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Stroll tipped the rear of Alonso as they entered Turn 4, which caused the Spaniard to lose momentum and drop behind both Mercedes drivers.
After the race, Alonso explained that he initially thought it was Russell who had hit him.
“I thought it was George. I saw the replay on TV later, and I saw it was Lance,” Alonso said.
“He had a very good start, you know, because he was alongside me into Turn 4.”
Both cars escaped without major damage, and Alonso went on to capture a podium finish in his debut for Aston Martin.
Stroll ended up in sixth place as he drove the race weekend with wrist and toe injuries that he sustained in a pre-season biking crash.
Although their races were almost unravelled on the first lap, team boss Mike Krack says they are happy to let their drivers race each other going forward.
“These are things that on lap one can happen,” he said. “Lance was fighting very hard with George on the outside.
“I don’t like to see that either, that is clear. But we let them race in lap one and lap two and continue. It’s something that you know can happen.”
The grand prix was a dream start for Aston Martin, whose car began to attract the attention of rivals at pre-season testing.
Alonso stated after the chequered flag that he didn’t think a podium finish was on the radar for the entirety of 2023, with Krack also admitting that he was not thinking of a top-three finish at the start of the race.
“We must not lose the ground from our feet and dream about podiums straightaway,” he said. “We knew that we were not bad, we knew that we had a strong race pace.
“But so many things could go wrong. After two laps, I was not dreaming about a podium, to be very honest with you.
“So it is all things where you have to see how the race unfolds and just focus on your job. We had also the attrition of Charles, which we should not forget. All in all, you can dream about podiums, but you should not predict them.”
