Miguel A. HerguedasSpecial Envoy Sakhir
Special Envoy Sakhir
Updated Friday, March 1, 2024-15:05
Alonso and Sainz A test of character before resolving their future
Fast lap Who will stop the collector Verstappen?
Christian Horner The scandal of anonymous emails about his alleged sexual abuse
There was still a quarter of an hour left in the third free session, when a message from Aston Martin left more than one speechless in Sakhir.
"You are P1, a tenth faster than
Max Verstappen ,"
Fernando Alonso
was informed by radio
.
"Yes, received. I'm connected to the car. It feels good," replied the two-time world champion.
A couple of minutes later,
Carlos Sainz
would multiply Spanish hopes with the best time on Friday (1:30.824).
The Ferrari driver had just beaten Verstappen by a tenth in the second sector and two more in the last, making the most of his qualifying tires.
Evidence that the SF24 can at least also challenge Red Bull's hegemony in slow corners.
Of course, Christian Horner
's team
remains the main favorite for
pole.
In fact,
Mad Max
and
Sergio Pérez
were the only ones who had the luxury of testing the C1 tire, the hardest in the range, while the rest of the field rode with the C3.
Late on Thursday,
Charles Leclerc
had warned that the big question was knowing what the real advantage of the RB20 is, because he assumed a terrible equality between Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren.
These small differences in performance were reflected again, with the top 10 grouped in half a second.
Alonso, for his part, lost only 141 thousandths to Sainz, after both completed 18 laps, two less than
Lewis Hamilton
and
Kevin Magnussen
.
The good feeling of the Asturian with the AMR24