Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has praised Fernando Alonso for his early season form, joking that he doesn’t know “what he’s taking”.
Alonso ended the second practice session from Bahrain on top of the timesheets, after splitting both Red Bull cars in the first session.
Aston Martin’s pace was hailed during pre-season testing, with the opening day of practice in Bahrain appearing to back up claims the car has made a sizeable step forward.
Alonso poured cold water over the team’s prospects for the race weekend, with some tipping it to be the second-fastest squad behind Red Bull.
Horner says that he is impressed by two-time World Champion Alonso, who’s the oldest driver on the grid at 41.
“Their car looks great. And, you know, they had some really impressive race runs last week [in testing].
“Fernando looks, you know, I don’t know what he’s taking but he’s looking great on it. He looks in looks on fire, so I think they could be a real surprise this year.
“[Aston Martin are a] bit of a dark horse so yeah, look, it just shows that it is possible to take a jump from the mid-field to potentially further up.
“But of course, we’ve only had a small snapshot. Let’s see the long runs this afternoon and then qualifying, and then the first sample in the race on Sunday.”
Aston Martin’s pace on Friday even eclipsed Ferrari’s, who ended last year’s championship second in the standings.
Its team boss Frederic Vasseur says it is clear that Aston Martin has made a step forward, but says he is remaining cautious over its true form until after qualifying and Sunday’s grand prix.
“Clearly I think they did a huge step forward compared to one year ago,” Vasseur said.
“If you have a look at Bahrain 2022, and they were performant on the short stint, and the long stint, even a bit more impressive on the long one, and this morning they did well.
“But now let’s see on Saturday and Sunday, and again, it will be a long one.”
