At Alonso's unexpected party: "It's incredible"

• Free training Alonso triggers the illusion

• F1 trembles at tedium "In the 'paddock' there is that feeling"

• Bahrain GP Schedule and where to watch it

At the end of the

, a party.

Bahrain is a quiet place for Formula 1, there are no traffic jams around the circuit, no parking problems, only a few thousand foreign fans walked through the stands this Friday, but at the end of the paddock there was a

.

During the training sessions, while in the majority of motorhomes - some desert-colored booths - the calm was enjoyed, in the Aston Martin house there was no room.

There were guests from the main sponsor, Aramco, an oil company from nearby Saudi Arabia, but also many, many guests from

's team .

No one wanted to miss it, neither did THE WORLD.

Between pecan nut ice cream from the street stall across the street and music by

, present on the circuit, applause, lots of applause.

In the debut of the World Cup, in free practice yesterday, Alonso set the best time of the day, ahead of

's Red Bull , ahead of

's Red Bull , and unleashed an ovation.

Great setting in the British team that perhaps this Saturday (4:00 p.m., DAZN) will celebrate a pole for the Spanish, that perhaps this Sunday will even celebrate a victory.

His 33rd win.

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quick lap.

license to dream

• Drafting: ANTONIO LOBATO

license to dream

"We did not expect this so soon," acknowledged a member of the team who, like the rest, assumed the official discourse: "We have to wait."

“Fernando is awesome, he is incredibly motivated and incredibly competitive.

We are happy, we are excited about these times, but this is only the base on which we must work", proclaimed the team boss,

, ex-Red Bull, a calm man, very calm, on a complicated mission: to contain the euphoria.

In training this Friday, those around the team celebrated, applauded, enjoyed themselves, but those who work in the garage sought the utmost caution.

In fact, at the end of the second practice session there was no celebration from the mechanics, not even a few fists in the air, a few smiles: they all began to analyze the car, to continue working.

Even those responsible for communication postponed some interviews due to the "expectations generated around them".

"We are happy as ever, but until qualifying we cannot know the real position," they added from the team.

There is some fear that Alonso will finish fifth tomorrow, for example, that is, he will surpass the best position achieved by Aston Martin last year -a sixth- and that it will be considered a fiasco.

containment exercise

The pilot himself said it.

«I would be lying if I say that I don't feel very well, but everything is relative, it depends on what the other teams do.

Maybe in qualifying I feel very good, there are three or four cars that are faster than me and I don't feel so good anymore", commented Alonso who, despite his time in free practice, was cautious: "There is still a A long way to go".

In his team, analysts valued his performance in free practice very positively, but they assumed that the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Pérez, second and third, had a higher load of gasoline and were suspicious of the Ferraris, which suffered several problems this Friday.

"The good thing has been the end of Alonso", they pointed out about a round of laps with white tires that the Spaniard carried out at the same time as the current champion, Verstappen.

Tenth up tenth down, they traced the times.

ANDREJ ISAKOVICAFP

The day had begun with the official presentation of all the cars sponsored by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) that taught the reasons for the change of Aston Martin.

The summary of changes of parts made by the British team occupied three pages;

the work of the other teams, half a page, one at the most.

A new car for a practically new team, which has lived for a few months, since the first tests in the wind tunnel, since the preseason, in a constant duality.

"It's still early," the engineers repeat, while in their motorhome, at the end of the

, the party breaks out.

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