Felipe Drugovich thought the simulator was wrong when he first tested the improvements made for the AMR23. The Brazilian started with the team in September last year, having signed on as their test and reserve driver after winning the Formula 2 title. When he joined, the team was still struggling to finish in the points in the midfield, but 2023 has been a big step for Aston Martin as they have now become regular podium achievers and the second fastest car to Red Bull. Drugovich did not believe the progress they had made when he first tested the AMR23 in the simulator. "I've been in the simulator since [last] September, and I saw the improvements made on the car," he told GiveMeSport . "It's a funny story. We were seeing the gains we made for this year with my lap time and I was like 'hmm it's probably quite wrong!' It was showing a couple of seconds quicker for Bahrain so it was pretty impressive."
Aston Martin has been the most improved team on the grid, having eclipsed their total points in 2022 (55) in the first three races of 2023. Fernando Alonso has achieved four podiums in the first five races, while Lance Stroll has come back from a pre-season injury to his hands to get within seven points of Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Championship. Drugovich, who was in line to replace Stroll in the opening races if he was not fit enough, said he was surprised to see the level of improvement from the team. "It's good to see that but seeing the effort the team put into it, I wasn't surprised we've improved, just by how much," he added. "I knew that the team was going to improve because everything was leaning towards that but the models [on the level of improvement] were quite a surprise. It's nice to see that."
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