We had warned him after Jeddah and it was confirmed as the Grand Prix went by: Alonso, with an AMR23 which was born with a “good plant”, is the good alternative to some Red Bulls who, at least for now, are in another league. Unless we see the big updates from Imola, little has changed since Bahrain.

But presenting itself as “the opposition” to Red Bull is not only due to the performance of the green car, but also to the good work of a Fernando Alonso who seems to have entered a “loop” similar to that of the 2018 Season. Without going any further, the comparison with Stroll at the start of the season is devastating.

It is true that the Canadian rider missed the pre-season in Bahrain – due to a cycling accident which seriously injured him – and was “hit” in the first two Grands Prix, but Nuno Pinto, his ” right arm”, said he would be at 100% capacity since the Australian Grand Prix and the situation has not changed.

In fact, it looks like the gap between Alonso and Stroll has increased. Let’s remember that Lance had “flew” in Q3 of the Saudi Arabian GP and was about to overtake Fernando -until he made a small mistake-, but the difference in Miami was abysmal… and the “Excuse” of Aston Martin’s strategy error in qualifying is not valid, since the Spaniard was in the same situation and was able to beat Q1.

Given the panorama, it seems that Alonso had more room for improvement after the Bahrain Grand Prix – as he had to fully “accommodate” the Aston Martin team – than Stroll due to his injuries and little filming. with the car designed at Silverstone.

Let’s zoom in a bit more on the image. If we take a look at all the sessions contested during these first five Grands Prix, we can see that Lance Stroll was only able to beat Fernando Alonso in free practice! It was in the sole practice session of the Azerbaijan GP; in all the others, the Spanish was faster.

Speaking of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, let’s say that this event – with its new format – had two classifications and two races… and Alonso, after losing the only “mini-battle” against Stroll in free practice, was the “master and lord”. ‘ from the rest of the weekend in the comparison with his teammate.

Oviedo are the only ones this season who have data of this magnitude against their partner. Perhaps the closest in this respect are Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon and Lando Norris, but all have ‘flaws’: Yuki was passed by Nyck in qualifying in Miami, Lando also ‘succumbed’ in qualifying in Arabia Saudi Arabia and Alex has the accident in Australia on his record. Interestingly, all three compete against ‘rookies’.

If, in addition, we take into account the difficulties that Sebastian Vettel had to start to shine in his first season with Aston Martin, Alonso’s performance takes on even more merit. Remember that that season, the German did not score points in the first four Grands Prix, while Stroll scored in the first two. Beginning in Monaco, and especially in Azerbaijan, Vettel has already demonstrated his superiority over the Canadian.

Some fans, especially the “new” ones, marvel at Fernando Alonso’s abilities, but especially his motivation, as he spent many years dealing with cars that weren’t ready to fight in the zone. before and he still won’t give up. Today, almost ten years after his last victory, the Spaniard showed all those ‘insufferable in-laws’ that what was missing was the machine.