Max Verstappen 'happy' to see Aston Martin on podium: "It can only get better for them"

Max Verstappen is happy to see Aston Martin gradually becoming a top team and how they could win a few races this season. Right after the pre-season testing, it was clear that Aston Martin had propelled themselves up the grid and would give a fair fight to the top teams. As the Bahrain GP race weekend progressed, their performance didn't falter as Fernando Alonso managed to finish on the podium.

During the post-race press conference, Spanish publication Marca asked Red Bull drivers whether Alonso could challenge for the world championship. Max Verstappen expressed that he's happy to see a new team making it to the top and fighting for the championship. He praised the British team for having passionate and dedicated people who are willing to work hard to improve:

"I hope so for Fernando as well because he has had a few years where there was not really a possibility to fight at the front so I'm happy to see him sitting here already in race one. I think also again, I mentioned it before, but at Aston Martin they really have the spirit and drive, they want to win and they've hired a lot of good people. So, I guess it can only get better for them."

Even though Max Verstappen is well aware of his and Red Bull's dominance, he claims that it's difficult to determine whether Aston Martin could challenge the top teams for the championship or not. Nevertheless, he's sure that they could win some races in the 2023 F1 season. He explained:

"And I think for this year, difficult to say if they're going to challenge for the championship, but race wins are definitely on the table. I've been in the same position where some races I'm finishing 20 to 40 seconds behind the winners and you still win two or three races a year because sometimes they are some tracks which really suit your car and everything just comes together and you can win a race with maybe sometimes a bit of help or luck."

Verstappen concluded:

"But for sure they have a really strong package. And now of course it's all about developing it further."

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Max Verstappen shares his thoughts after winning the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP

After winning the Bahrain GP for the first time, Max Verstappen was interviewed by Nico Rosberg in parc fermé, right after the race ended. The Dutchman shared his initial thoughts upon winning the race and explained how he maintained the tires to stay in the lead:

"It was a very very good first stint where I basically my gap. From there it was all about just looking after the tires because you never really know what's going to happen later on the race so we just wanted to make sure we had the right tires in good condition. Very happy to also finally win here also in Bahrain."

This was a massive win for Max Verstappen after he had to retire the Red Bull car last year in Bahrain due to some reliability issues.