AMF1 2023 season report: Six podiums in eight races – and the best is yet to come.

Eight closely-contested races. Six hard-fought top-three finishes. We call it podium proclivity. Extraordinary progress it may be, but it’s just the start. Chart the AMF1 team’s unstoppable evolution so far in the 2023 season, and stay tuned for our cars and drivers to compete even harder.

Bahrain – A scintillating start in Sakhir

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin debut. A podium finish to mark the occasion. Sixth place for Lance Stroll, despite a serious pre-season wrist injury. The team’s highest-scoring Grand Prix weekend to date. Sixty passes per race. That’s the Bahrain track average, taken from the past five years. This year, Fernando contributed five passes – more than any other driver in the race. Lance overtook three cars, even though injury meant he struggled to steer on his own. True Aston Martin commitment. True Aston Martin passion. Right from the off.

 



Saudi Arabia – Fernando Alonso’s 100th podium

 

 

Fernando Alonso stormed to his second podium in two races. The first consecutive podium for the AMF1 team in its history. Fernando’s career 100th. Jeddah Corniche. The fastest street track on the F1™ calendar. Great fun, according to Lance Stroll, but also hugely challenging, because of the close proximity of the walls. Lance was unlucky not to finish in the points but had a blistering start, and overtook Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in a memorable battle at Turn 13, to move to fourth place in lap one.

 



Melbourne – Unstoppable progression

 

Two top-four finishes. A first for the AMF1 team. A landmark achievement for everybody involved. Extraordinary progress for AMF1. Especially considering last year’s race saw four shunts in two days. This year’s rollercoaster saw three red flags. Despite the mayhem, Fernando Alonso fought his way to his third successive podium. Lance Stroll battled to fourth place, his best result with AMF1 to date.

Miami – Fernando’s fourth

Fernando Alonso secured his fourth podium of the season to drive to third place in Miami, while Lance Stroll gained six places to finish 12th, from 18th on the grid. Lance could have qualified higher but, as Mick Krack, Team Principal, acknowledged, the team’s tyre strategy was too aggressive. An important lesson from which to learn. With four consecutive podiums, the team left Miami with its sights set higher than third place.

 



Monaco – Goal achieved

 

Mission accomplished in the very next race. Fernando Alonso scored second place in the Monaco GP 2023. The team’s best of the season. Exceptionally impressive, considering rain turned the team’s one-stop strategy on its head. Treacherous conditions meant Lance Stroll hit the barriers twice in a formation lap and therefore had to retire, but nothing could take away the spectacular overtakes he’d already pulled off in the principality’s iconic, tight streets.

 



Canada – Pushing hard for the home crowd

 

This was Canadian, Lance Stroll’s, fifth appearance at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, his home circuit. Having scored points in three out of his last four Canadian Grand Prix, he was excited to return. Lance climbed an incredible seven places to finish ninth and in the points. He was praised by his teammate for his speed, commitment and passion. Fernando and Aston Martin’s second place, despite a problem with the car, can only mean one thing. A shot at victory is on the cards.