• Report Pepe Martí, Fernando Alonso's other joy: "It's incredible to have his advice"

There is another mood at the Aston Martin booth in Jeddah. That bustle of training in Bahrain, that revelry, even that surprise have become a kind of routine. Success as routine. In the first free practice at the street circuit of Saudi Arabia, Aston Martin confirms that it has the second fastest car in the World Championship and nobody is surprised. This time there is no celebration, far from it. There is normality. "Let's keep working," says a young engineer and he sets himself to do so, heading to the garage.

Here Fernando Alonso's car had to suffer. The analysis of the very short pre-season and the first race of the year concluded that the Aston Martin was magnificent in braking, in slow corners, but was delayed in the long straights, in the fast turns. Supposedly the podium of Bahrain, a twisty layout, could not be repeated in Jeddah, whose circuit is a highway parallel to the sea to which they have put some ornamental curves. But this season everything goes well for Alonso.

And it turns out that, surprise, the Aston Martin can also be very fast. And it turns out that a couple of tweaks to the car work perfectly. And it turns out that this Sunday (18.00 hours, DAZN) it is most likely that he will fight again for the positions of honor. Again the Red Bull drivers, especially Max Verstappen, have the advantage, but again Alonso is just behind them.

The third time of the tests

They were only the first free practice sessions and night had not yet fallen, that is, it was a heat of a thousand demons in this corner of Saudi Arabia, but the Spaniard's time, the third fastest time, corroborated his possibilities. In the tests with soft tires neither the Mercedes nor the Ferraris exceeded his time and his teammate, Lance Stroll, finished fourth, a few tenths behind him.

Upon his arrival at the circuit, Alonso proclaimed that he did not want any party until he got a victory, that overestimating a podium could slow his progression. "We have had some time to direct what happened in Bahrain and now we must keep the concentration to the maximum. That's the goal this weekend," said the driver. His team has listened to him. In the Aston Martin booth in Jeddah, after their time in the first free practice, the guests quietly finished their coffee and nobody dared to start an applause. "Let's keep working," said a young engineer and that's what he set out for, heading to the garage.

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  • Bahrain
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Fernando Alonso
  • Articles Javier Sánchez