Alonso: We didn’t expect to be that competitive

Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 Formula 1 Champion, had a dream start to his career at Aston Martin bagging the team's second podium in F1 after Sebastian Vettel delivered their first in 2021 in Baku.

Despite having a bad start, and being hit by his teammate on the opening lap, the Spaniard drove one of his finest races, keeping his head down and pushing ahead to prevail in some intense battle with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz to take his 99th podium.

"It’s a perfect start for this project," Alonso said, quoted by F1's Official Website. "We didn’t expect to be that competitive.

"I think the aim in 2023 was to get in the mix with the midfield, maybe leading that midfield and get close to the top three teams eventually," he revealed.

"Even a podium maybe was not on the radar in 2023, and we found ourselves with the second best car today in Bahrain, of the whole weekend, just behind Red Bull. This is a little bit of a surprise, but we are extremely proud, happy with the job done at Silverstone in the factory.

"A big congratulations to everyone. Let’s enjoy this moment and build from here hopefully a good 2023 campaign, and get closer and closer to the top guys," Alonso added.

Aston Martin probably did not set their expectations as high ahead of the 2023 season, which means Alonso's Bahrain podium might have moved the goal posts for the team in 2023.

Asked if that was the case; Alonso said: "Let’s see. I had this same feeling from testing, like too good to be true, and you’re always expecting that… you will get a step back and you will get back to reality. But it seems real, the performance.

"Let’s see in Jeddah. I’m curious to go to Jeddah and Australia – very different circuits. I think in Bahrain we were strong in things that maybe we don’t find in Jeddah and Australia. If we are strong in the next two races, I think we will have a very good 2023," he explained.

Speaking about his climb back up the grid to the podium, and the on-track fights on the way there, the Aston Martin driver said: "I obviously enjoyed it, because I ended up in front, that’s always the same thing in any battle.

"It’s always the same when you fight at the front; with these great drivers, great champions it is a little bit more intense, a little bit more adrenalin, when you are wheel-to-wheel.

"I didn’t want to have any mistake or any contact because obviously when you are P12 you lose nothing but today we were fighting for big things. I was happy, the car was nice to drive – that was probably our strength all through testing and this weekend.

"Even though the race felt very long [in] the last 10 laps, because I wanted to see the chequered flag and be on the podium, the car was very good to drive and I could have driven for another hour or something, just alone on track," the 41-year-old concluded.