05 March 2023 , 17:56
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Fernando Alonso admitted he did not know it was his team-mate Lance Stroll who almost span him on the first lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The 41-year-old returned to the Formula 1 podium this weekend with an excellent drive. His Aston Martin car lived up to the hype as he made light work of rival Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes cars, before sweeping past Carlos Sainz to finish third.
But it might not have happened had one first lap incident had a different outcome. Stroll had attempted a late lunge up the inside of his team-mate, tagging the rear right wheel of Alonso.
Fortunately for the Spaniard, he did not spin or pick up a puncture. It was only after the race that he was filled in about exactly what had happened, with his race engineer Chris Cronin tight-lipped up to that point.
Alonso was told: "Lance was trying to get past George and as you switched back to try and get Hamilton, Lance just couldn't quite get stopped in time. There was no damage to either car, so all okay." In reply, the Spaniard said he thought it was Russell who had touched his car.
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Over the radio, Alonso told his team after crossing the line: "I'm so proud of you. This is amazing. By the way, Lance is my hero. Amazing performance from him."
Stroll tapped Alonso's rear right wheel on the first lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix (Sky Sports)He was referring to the fact that the Canadian was racing despite nursing two broken wrists and a broken toe. He overcame the pain to finish sixth in the race, beating George Russell and making sure Aston Martin finished the day second in the constructors' championship.
Speaking after getting out of his car, Alonso said: "My team-mate had surgery 12 days ago and now he's fighting right with everybody. It's amazing for the team. It was a great weekend and finishing on the podium in the first race of the year is just amazing.
"What Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second best car on race one is just unreal. Obviously, I would love to start in front of [Ferrari and Mercedes] and then use the pace. But we had not the best start today and we had to pass on track.
"So, it felt more exciting and more adrenaline for sure. So if people enjoy, we did enjoy as well so let's go to Jeddah."