"You have a very expensive driver alongside you" - Fernando Alonso's cheeky jibe at Lewis Hamilton in the F1 season's first press conference

Fernando Alonso took a cheeky jibe at Lewis Hamilton as he spoke to George Russell in the press conference at the Bahrain pre-season test. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda, the Spanish driver suggested that Mercedes could have a bigger budget with an expensive driver like Lewis Hamilton.

Judging the current scenario of the AMR24, Fernando Alonso felt it was difficult to draw conclusions on the performance of their car, given the unknown variables involved with their rivals' test programs. Taking the chance to lament the limited testing time available, the 42-year-old felt they were at a disadvantage with only three days of testing available and one and a half for each driver. He also stated the budget involved could allow more preparations for teams and drivers given the sophisticated nature of the sport.

Asked if he was confident about his new tool, the AMR24, Fernando Alonso replied:

“Difficult to tell, I think. It's only testing and we have no idea what others are doing. Even our programme is always in constant change, depending on the time available. With these regulations, I also said at the launch of the car, it’s difficult to understand how we can have one day and a half for each driver which is one day and a quarter now after this morning, to prepare for our championship. It’s in like football or tennis, you change the racket or the balls before a tournament, or before a season and let the players test before a grand slam. And we are talking in the most sophisticated sport, with 200 million budget per team per year, and things like that. It seems all ridiculous.”

Interrupting the Spaniard, Russell said:

“Our budget's only a 135.”

Taking a swipe at Hamilton, Fernando Alonso said:

“Yes but you have a very expensive driver alongside you. So it's probably more than 200 for Mercedes with your teammate.”

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Fernando Alonso feels pre-season testing is as exciting as before

Fernando Alonso believes that the pre-season testing and period ahead of the new season is still one filled with intrigue and curiosity.

Asked if the feeling before a season or testing is the same as he is set to enter his 21st season, Fernando Alonso replied:

“Well different but still. I love what I do. Yeah the new season always brings you a lot of emotions, a lot of new feelings. You want to discover how the car behaves and how it will be, and is it easy to overcome a deficit in Formula 1? And its not to difficult to keep an advantage if you start with the right foot. So always that curiosity is there.”

Fernando Alonso clocked the third-fastest time of the first session of Day 1 of testing and completed a total of 77 laps. As the track evolved in the afternoon, the Spanish driver’s laptime dropped to the seventh-fastest of the day. With an interrupted morning session on Day 2 due to a red flag, the Aston Martin driver was able to complete only 31 laps of running.