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Fernando Alonso admits his first Aston Martin test drive in Abu Dhabi brought back memories of his Jaguar test drive 20 years ago.
The two-time former world champion is making the move after spending two seasons with Alpine, marking his return to Formula 1 from a hiatus.
aston martin It will be the Spaniard’s fifth different F1 team, but it could be six, as he tested for Jaguar on a wet and windy day at Silverstone in May 2002, while at Minardi spent another year on the sidelines after his debut season.
Alonso, then 20, was quicker in testing than Jaguar racer Pedro de la Rosa and was one of three drivers being assessed as a potential successor to Eddie Irving, who is not expected to compete in 2003. years to continue.
The latter was true, except Alonso was signed to race by Renault, where he had been a test driver in 2002, to replace the BAR-bound Jenson Button, while Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia replaced Owen and Rosa of de la Jaguar.
Still, while the weather conditions at Yas Marina in 2022 will be very different from those at Silverstone in 2002, Alonso still sees some similarities – notably his friend de la Rosa, now a The ambassador for the Ston Martin team was there again, and the unbranded car he was driving when it came to colour.
“We went into the garage together this morning, we saw the green car and we all said ‘this is exactly the same Jaguar from 2002’,” Alonso told media including PlanetF1 in Abu Dhabi. “But it’s definitely a whole different project.
“And I’m very happy. Of course, I can’t be overconfident because everything will change next year, but the feeling I have today in the garage with these guys and the potential of the team, the talent I see in the engineering room is fantastic, so I Really, really, really happy.”
Alonso’s First Aston Martin test Including 97 laps as he prepares to succeed Sebastian Vettel as Lance Stroll’s team-mate, the team is expected to make significant progress in this year’s constructors’ championship, finishing seventh.
“Try to do as many laps as possible in the plan,” the 41-year-old said.
“Lance had the opportunity to feel some of the changes we’ve made that we expected I needed in terms of steering feel and things like that.
“It’s good that Lance is in the car too, to see if he feels the benefit of that as well, and if we can run a similar setup next year.”
read more – Esteban Ocon: ‘There’s no need’ to take some criticism from Fernando Alonso
article How the Abu Dhabi test brought back memories of Fernando Alonso’s Jaguar 2002 appeared first on Planetf1.com.
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