After they both joined Aston Martin for the 2023 Formula One season, Felipe Drugovich gave Fernando Alonso high marks. The young Brazilian-Italian became a reserve driver for the team in September 2022 after being announced as the team’s inaugural driver development program member.
Aston Martin announced Fernando Alonso as their primary driver for 2023 following Sebastian Vettel’s retirement announcement. Consequently, Drugovich met the Spaniard and praised him wholeheartedly.
Drugovich stated the following in an exclusive interview with PlanetF1 in 2022:
“He doesn’t need to be introduced, and he has been very nice to me. I hope that next year I can learn a lot from him. He is the ideal person to learn from.”
Felipe Drugovich went on to say that he wants to work with Aston Martin and a legendary driver like Fernando Alonso to get as much experience as possible. He also praised the driver program of the team and how it will benefit him and the other drivers who will follow him. He stated,
Lance Stroll was in an unfortunate bike accident just before the F1 pre-season testing in 2023, and he suffered wrist injuries. As a result, Drugovich took over for the Canadian and drove for Aston Martin alongside Fernando Alonso during pre-season testing. Aston Martin recently announced that the young Brazilian will also compete in the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP if Stroll is unable to recover from his injury.
During the 2023 F1 pre-season testing, Fernando Alonso felt the impact of Lance Stroll not being with Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso was the only main driver to collaborate with his new team on a new vehicle because Lance Stroll was unable to attend pre-season testing in Bahrain.
As a result, Stroll was somewhat missed by the Spaniard and the team during testing because he knew a few things about the car and the team that even a seasoned driver like Alonso would not know.
Fernando Alonso stated the following on F1 TV regarding Stroll:
It really hurt. We never know if it’s just me in a new team and a new car, but some of my comments and feelings about the vehicle lead me to believe that we miss him.
Whether this is brand-new for this vehicle or a team legacy, I’m unsure. We can’t do it without him, so I hope he will soon return.
Stroll’s ability to return in time for the first F1 race of the 2023 season is unknown at this time.