Christian Horner reacts to blistering Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin pace – ‘Fernando looks on fire!’

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has hailed the performances of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso during free practice one at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Aston were one of the more intriguing teams coming into the new season, with Alonso arriving from Alpine to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel.

And that intrigue bore out during Friday’s first free practice session ahead of the season-opening race on Sunday, with Alonso putting down a series of quick laps.

That meant that come the end of the session, the Spaniard was sitting in second, sandwiched between the two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez, who topped the session, and defending world champion Max Verstappen.

Speaking at the post-session press conference, Horner was full of praise for Alonso, who split his two drivers.

“Their car looks great and they had some really impressive race runs last week. Fernando looks on fire so I think they could be a real surprise this year.

“It just shows that it is possible to take a jump from the midfield to potentially further up.”

Elsewhere, it was a more difficult session for Alonso’s younger team-mate, Lance Stroll.

The Canadian missed all of testing after injuring his wrist in Spain ahead of the new season but he returned to the car for the weekend’s action.

Stroll did finish sixth in a solid showing but he did spend 20 minutes in the garage at one stage due to a biometric issue.

After the top three, Lando Norris of McLaren finished with the fourth quickest time, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in between him and Stroll.

It was a tougher session for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing 10th and 11th respectively.

The three rookies had mixed sessions, with Oscar Piastri in 12th, Nyck de Vries in 15th and Logan Sargeant in 18th.

Free Practice 2 starts at 15:00 UK time.