“Fernando Alonso seems to be very competitive”: Zhou Guanyu identifies Aston Martin threat for midfield battle this season

Alfa Romeo F1 driver Zhou Guanyu pointed out that Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso looked 'really competitive' after the end of their pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin both finished level on points at the end of the 2022 season with 55 points. However, it seems like the British team has made a huge step up heading into the new season and eclipsed the likes of Alfa Romeo.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Zhou said:

"It's clear Aston Martin took a step. Fernando Alonso seems to be very competitive over the two days, both conditions. I think he will be one of the top guys in the midfield battle."

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon also agreed with Zhou and mentioned that his former teammate and Aston Martin looked very fast in the three days of testing, adding:

"I think it's early days to really give a conclusion. With those cars, it's so easy to go from five seconds slower to five seconds quicker in one go, so... it's difficult to exactly tell, the fuel loads, the energy management, and what engine mode you run. They look for sure competitive at the moment, but the Williams also look competitive. I think it's gonna be a close fight like it always is."

“I think we are still discovering things on the car" - Fernando Alonso

Speaking to the media after pre-season testing, Fernando Alonso stated that there was potential to discover from AMR23 heading into the first race of the season.

As per PlanetF1, the two-time world champion mentioned that the team might need a few races to get to full speed with the new car. He said:

“I think we are still discovering things on the car. Last year Aston Martin was struggling with the car and we changed the philosophy completely, 95 percent of the car this year is new, and so I think we are just experimenting a bit with different set-ups and different things the last few days.

Fernando Alonso added:

“Hopefully we’ll put it all together, but we’ll need time, we’ll need a few races to really exploit the full potential of the car because there is no time now with only three days to really go through all the tests items we want.”

Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin could even challenge Mercedes for P3 in the championship, but there will be clearer answers post the first race of the season next week.