In the round-up: Fernando Alonso expects Aston Martin’s rivals to come back at them strongly over the coming races.
In brief
Alonso predicts big changes in car performance
Although Aston Martin have emerged as the closest threat to Red Bull over the opening races, Alonso says it’s too soon to expect the team will be competitive at every venue. He also expects their closest rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari, will introduce upgrades to close the gap between them after the long April break.
“After a few events from now on, I think the cars will change a lot, in a few areas and a few developments,” Alonso predicted.
“We have to wait and see,” he added. “I think very soon, from Baku or Imola, we will see the teams changing a few parts in the cars. And maybe that changes, also, how competitive you feel.”
The team was “extremely happy with the performance of the car” over the opening two races. “It was better than expected, especially in Jeddah I think it was a nice surprise.”
Changing rules in response to Red Bull dominance ‘unfair’
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says it would not be fair to change the regulations to encourage a closer championship fight following Red Bull’s dominant start to the season.
“You can’t just do something just because someone else is faster. It’s not fair,” Steiner told Motorsport Total.
“Everyone will work hard and you must never forget that Red Bull got the penalty from last year,” added Steiner, who worked for Red Bull before taking up the reins at Haas. “They can develop less in the wind tunnel this year, so theoretically they can’t go much further.”
“Everyone will catch up and hopefully we can find out how Red Bull got this advantage and we can copy it or do something similar.”