Fernando Alonso 'looks on fire', claims Red Bull team boss Christian Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that he expects Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso to be 'on fire' during the 2023 F1 season.

The two-time world champion finished on the podium in his first race for the iconic British team at the F1 Bahrain GP behind the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Spaniard had looked rapid throughout the entire weekend and even passed both Mercedes and a Ferrari on his way to securing his 99th career podium.

During Friday (March 3)'s press conference, Horner had predicted that Alonso might be the driver to look out for in 2023. He said:

"Their car looks great. And, you know, they had some really impressive race runs last week, Fernando looks, you know, I don't know what he's taking but he's looking great at it. He looks in looks on fire, so I think they could be a real surprise this year."

"Bit of a dark horse so yeah, look, it just shows that it is possible to take a jump from midfield to potentially further up. But of course, we've only had a small snapshot. Let's see the long runs this afternoon and then qualifying, and then the first sample in the race on Sunday."

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"I'm happy to see him sitting here already in race one" - Max Verstappen on Fernando Alonso

Reigning double world champion and Bahrain GP winner Max Verstappen mentioned that he was happy for Fernando Alonso after his P3 finish.

As per Sky Sports, the Dutchman said:

"I hope so for Fernando as well because he has had a few years where there was not really a possibility to fight at the front so I'm happy to see him sitting here already in race one. I think also again, I mentioned it before, but at Aston Martin, they really have the spirit and drive, they want to win and they've hired a lot of good people."

"So I guess it can only get better for them. And I think for this year, difficult to say if they're going to challenge for the championship, but race wins are definitely on the table. But for sure they have a really strong package. And now of course it's all about developing it further."

It would be interesting to see if Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin would be consistent and even fight for race wins in 2023 as predicted by Verstappen.