Race Weekend Central

The Pit Straight: Is Aston Martin For Real?

After posting promising times in preseason testing, and leading two of the three free practice sessions before the Bahrain Grand Prix, Aston Martin F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso qualified only fifth, with his teammate Lance Stroll down in seventh.

Many, including The Pit Straight co-hosts Jack Swansey and Alex Gintz, wrote off the team in green after qualifying, believing that the Lawrence Stroll-owned organization in just its third year under the Aston Martin name would not be able to bring the fight to Formula 1 big boys Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas. After a first-lap collision between Alonso and Stroll, it looked as though they were right.

But when the checkered flag flew, Stroll had improved to sixth, and Alonso had passed George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz en route to a third-place result, and his 99th career F1 podium.

See also
Objects in Mirror: The Mercedes-AMG W11 Is the Fastest F1 Car of All Time

With 22 races still to go and an AMR23 that can keep up with the Red Bulls if the conditions are right, how far can Aston Martin go in F1 2022? What are the new expectations for Alonso and Stroll?

And which passing move of Alonso’s was the most spectacular?

About the author

Jack Swansey primarily covers open-wheel racing for Frontstretch and co-hosts The Pit Straight Podcast, but you can also catch him writing about NASCAR, sports cars, and anything else with four wheels and a motor. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars.

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