The long winter is over and the 2023 F1 World Championship has finally kicked off. At the glamorous opening race at the Bahrain International Circuit, a high-level battle worthy of the world’s highest peak was unfolded, but among them, Alonso’s charge from 7th was really impressive. In this article, we will focus on Alonso and look back at the race with graphs.
The tires used by each driver (from Pirelli official)
F1 glossary for beginners is here
F1 official video of Alonso’s second half of the race highlights
1. The First Stint of Patience
As expected from the winter test, Alonso & Aston Martin showed their competitiveness from qualifying and secured the 5th grid ahead of the Mercedes team.
In the race, he dropped to 7th place due to being hit by his teammate Stroll at turn 4 on lap 1. However, he kept a good distance from the Mercedes team and proceeded with the first stint. On lap 13, he overtook Russell, who had lost pace. He also managed to keep ahead after the first pit stop.
By the way, I think that Russell’s pit stop taking 5.0 seconds led to Alonso and Aston Martin’s decision to pit on the next lap. If Russell’s pit stop had been perfect, it would have been better to stay out longer and extend the stint rather than react and be undercut, as this would create a tyre difference in the second stint. However, due to Russell’s slow pit stop, Alonso was in a situation where he could easily get ahead if he covered immediately.
If so, it means that they changed their plan flexibly after seeing Russell’s slow pit stop, which gives a good impression of the team’s strength. The Aston Martin’s upward trend this season might not be just about the machine.
2. The Top Level Battle between Alonso vs Hamilton
2.1. The battle in the second stint
Alonso’s second stint started with 5 seconds behind Hamilton. To look back at the development from here, Let us look at Fig.1 that shows Alonso and Hamilton’s race pace.
Alonso gradually closed the gap with Hamilton and eased his pace when the gap was around 2 seconds. Hamilton also picked up his pace slightly in the latter part of the stint, trying to pull away from Alonso. But Alonso caught up with him and Hamilton had no choice but to box early to avoid being undercut.
As a result, Alonso sprinted with an clear air. He lapped with the amazing pace on laps 32 and 33 at the end of the 2nd stint, which were comparable to those of Hamilton who had changed to new tyres. This high pace allowed him to start the third stint right behind Hamilton.
2.2. The reversal drama in the third stint
In the third stint, Alonso immediately approached right behind Hamilton. However, this year the DRS zone on the home straight was shortened, making overtaking not as easy as last year. On lap 37, Alonso tried to challenge Hamilton at turn 4 with a cross line from turn 1 as he did when he passed Russell, but he snapped slightly at the apex. Hamilton took advantage of this and kept ahead. (Official video 0:00~)
And on lap 38, Alonso approached Hamilton at S-curve, forcing Hamilton to take a blocking line at turn 8. Here Alonso crossed the line from the outside and lined up on the inside coming out of turn 8, which means he was on the outside in Turn 9. And then, surprisingly, he switched to the inside while braking. Consequently, he took inside at turn 10 and succeeded in overtaking. This is a very advanced technique and it was a move that could have easily resulted in contact if he made a mistake while switching. (Official video 0:25~)
3. Brilliant Overtake on Sainz
After VSC, he closed the gap with Sainz. Fig. 2 shows their race pace.
Alonso was about 0.4 seconds faster than Sainz, but Ferrari was fast on straights and harder to attack than Hamilton. So on lap 45, after a battle from turn 1, Alonso again lined up the outside with Sainz at turn 9 and tried to switch inside for a moment. But Sainz blocked inside, so Alonso went outside. Then he used cross line and slipped behind Sainz and used slipstream and DRS to overtake him. As a result, he managed to do it of course. (Official video 0:47~)
After that, Alonso pushed for three laps and then switched to “bring it home” driving by avoiding curbs. This initial push may have been due to his caution for Hamilton passing Sainz. And then he eased his reins when that threat faded.
Alonso has been shining especially since around 2012~13 with his good sense of battle. This time, he had a competitive machine and showed his overwhelming skill that has not faded.
4. Pure Pace Is the Key
So far, we have talked about Alonso’s race craft and close battling skills, but the reason he was able to connect them to results was none other than his pure pace. Table 1 shows the comparison of race pace on hard tyres for the top drivers that consider fuel effects, tyre degradation and other race context. (Red Bull team was most likely cruising all the time and excluded from the analysis)
Table 1 Race Pace on Hard Tyres for the Top Drivers
Alonso’s pace was even better than Leclerc’s, and if he hadn’t been stuck behind the Mercedes in the early stages, he might have overtaken Leclerc on his own.
Also, looking at Stroll’s position, it is clear that Aston Martin’s machine is amazing. But at the same time, it is also true that Alonso added 0.4 seconds to it and brought it to this situation, and it is expected that Alonso’s high pace will greatly change the race situation in the future.
Red Bull and Verstappen’s dominance, Mercedes’ slump, Ferrari’s flaws… It looks like another year full of dramas. But among them, Aston Martin and Alonso’s big leap forward. This dramatic turnaround brings energy and color to the race…
Writer: Takumi