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2023 FIA Formula One World Championship
2023 Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park Circuit
Melbourne, Australia
Sunday, 2 April 2023
Former two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso is determined to continue his fine start to life with Aston Martin at the
Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, April 2.
The Spaniard made the switch from Alpine ahead of the new season as a replacement for Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of the 2022 campaign.
Alonso impressed in the Bahrain Grand Prix, starting from sixth on the grid but eventually finished third behind the two Red Bulls - his first podium since the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix.
It was also Aston Martin's first podium since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and he repeated the feat a fortnight later by claiming P3 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Image copyright: Getty Images
Alonso suffered a five-second penalty after failing to line up his car correctly on the starting grid at the end of the formation lap, which allowed him to overtake Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez at the start.
The 41-year-old incurred a further 10-second penalty after the race because the rear jack was touching the car while serving the initial five-second penalty during his pit stop, placing him fourth.
However, Alonso's P3 was reinstated after Aston Martin requested that the incident be reviewed by the stewards, and he has compared the team's rise to that of Brawn GP in 2009.
"Ferrari when it was 2020, they were very bad. Then in 2022 they were fighting for the championship, or won the first two or three Grands Prix of the year, so Ferrari made a huge step last year," he told F1.com.
"[There was also] Brawn GP - huge. With a non-regulation change, [Aston Martin's is] probably the biggest one.
"All the others, they were with the regulation change, plus with the cost cap it's very difficult to do something like that, but we have very talented people in the team - so far it's been a good start and hopefully only the start."
2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix results:
Winner: Sergio Perez - Red Bull Racing
Second Place: Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing
Third Place: Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
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