Can Aston Martin challenge Ferrari? Alonso makes “slightly faster” claim

Along with Red Bull, Aston Martin caught the headlines for their impressive turn of speed throughout the three days of running.

Alonso’s race simulation on the final day of testing caught many teams’ attention, producing better times than Mercedes, and Aston Martin’s superior tyre degradation put it on a par with Ferrari.

Aston Martin boss Mike Krack has played their testing form down: "I think it's very, very difficult on such a test to make a proper judgement... It is nice to have good long runs, but still you need to be really put them into the right context and let's not start dreaming," 

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However, speaking at an event after testing, Alonso did nothing to dampen expectations.

"On the last test day, for example, we did a race simulation. Then we did 57 laps, the same thing we are going to do this week in Bahrain.

"We put fuel in for those 57 laps and did the full race with the full set-up, even changing tyres. At the same time, Ferrari were doing the same programme as us with the same fuel for the race, same stops and we were slightly faster."

Aston Martin were without Lance Stroll, who was ruled out of testing following a cycling accident.

The Silverstone-based team will have reigning F2 champion Felipe Drugovich on standby, with Stroll set to test in Aston Martin’s simulator to see if he’s fit enough to race this weekend.

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With Alonso new to the team, the Spaniard feels that Aston Martin missed Stroll’s feedback.

"We missed him because some of my comments and my feelings about the car, we never knew if it was just me in a new team and a new car, or is it an Aston Martin thing that Lance could have spotted," Alonso added. 

"We cannot do it without him so I hope he can come back very soon."