Aston Martin’s Surprise Makes Ferrari Drivers Worry

JAKARTA - Aston Martin made a surprise appearance at the inaugural Formula 1 (F1) 2023 series race at the Sakhir Circuit, Bahrain, last weekend. In fact, the Ferrari racer, Carlos Sainz, did not expect the achievement of his team's rival.

Sainz even felt worried. He said that the podium won by Aston Martin through Fernando Alonso proved that Ferrari cars were still not convincing.

"That worries me, there will be (more) distance between us and (defending champion) Red Bull and the surprising race pace of Aston (Martin), who is currently faster," said Sainz, quoted from the official F1 website via Antara, Tuesday, March 7.

Ferrari is far from optimal in the inaugural race series. Apart from Sainz, who was overtaken by Fernando Alonso, another Ferrari driver, Charles Lecrec, could not continue the race at that time.

Leclerc's car reportedly experienced technical difficulties 15 laps from the finish while in third place.

Before the race, the Italian team actually detected a problem with Leclerc's car and replaced a number of car power unit components.

The issue of reliability again overshadowed Ferrari with Leclerc's failure to finish in Bahrain.

"There is a lot of work to be done. We have to solve this problem. Also, (the Bahrain GP) is still the first race, so we still have room to make further improvements," said Sainz.