Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez share the moment when they celebrated a perfect race during a fierce back-and-forth race at the F1 GP in Brazil.
The battle has been brewing since the start of the F1 GP in Brazil, but only got serious on the final lap at the Interlagos circuit. Red Bull’s Perez rolled the dice and stopped early, but fell behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin reacted and sent Alonso into the pits, leaving Alonso in the lead. The three-second gap narrowed to less than a second as Perez began attacking the Spaniard. This difference was mainly due to his DRS advantage, which allowed the Mexican to withstand pressure.
However, Alonso continued to try unconventional variations to trouble Perez. However, this did not happen as the Mexican attacked at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap. He maintained his position through Turn 4, but a small mistake in Turn 2 on the final lap changed the tide.
This allowed Alonso to close in on him in Turn 4 and regain the position. However, Perez did not give up and continued to attack the Spaniard for the rest of the lap. Unfortunately he was not able to overtake him and he finished 4th with a difference of 0.053 seconds.
Both Perez and Alonso hugged each other in the media corral and praised the clean race they managed. The Spaniard had to work hard to win the battle to get back on the podium, but the Mexican finally made a promising appearance.
Battle with Perez –
Alonso: “I don’t know. Next time for sure!” Yes, it was a very intense race. And there was no time to relax. It’s also a very strategic race. Save your tires and always save your battery in case you need a Czech in DRS. And yes, to be honest, I thought I had things under control in the final stint until I started pushing a little more with five laps to go. There was more juice in the tires so I thought everything was okay. And the Czechs played the same game. At the end of the race he had good tires and passed me with two laps left. And I thought, “Okay, I’m done.” But I had another chance, so that was enough. ”
How management keeps Perez away –
Alonso: “Driving directly in front of other cars gives you more downforce and cleaner air, so maybe it’s good for keeping your tires under control. ” I had trouble getting into turns 10, 11 and 12 behind other cars. And that was probably the game we were playing. These three corners of his were important for overtaking chances. And yes, you can always get better grip if the car is in front. So I just made sure not to make any mistakes in the three corners. If we don’t make mistakes, the Czech Republic will get too close. They used their energy in the straights as well, making sure not to give Czech any chances. And yes, sometimes you just change lines within lines. I didn’t want to be on the same line all the time if possible. When he came inside, I was sometimes inside the house and sometimes outside. So there was no clear direction for him to actually change the racing line and take advantage of the opportunity to breathe clean air. So I tried adding some turbulence to his front nose. ”
Moves that brought you joy –
Alonso: “Obviously it was very tiring passing him on the last lap because in some corners it was all or nothing for both of us. ” But to be honest, I think the overtaking is the most important. Hamilton took control of the race at Turn 4 on the first lap. That changed my race. If I start from 4th and have to fight Hamilton in the first stint, even if I manage to catch him at some point from lap 10 onwards, my tires will extend the first stint. They will never be able to gain a tire advantage against the Czech Republic. There’s a second stint and a third stint, so there’s a defining moment of the race for me and that’s lap one, turn 4 with Hamilton. ”
Fight with Alonso, fair race –
Perez: “It took a long time to beat Mercedes. It broke my heart.” Race. From then on we were always a bit behind Fernando and towards the end we left him a bit behind. I’m pretty close to the podium. But I have to congratulate Fernando because it was a great match. A very fair race. And that’s really good. Because of how hard we compete and how much space we always have. I think even a small number of drivers on the grid can do it. They know that Fernando will always try to play in every match, but he will always be fair. It was a great race. I think whoever made it to the podium deserved it and did it. ”
How it came about –
Perez: “Looking, I had a chance and I grabbed it and ran out of the puck a little bit. He was 8/10 of me so he was really fast in the straights. ” was removed. I don’t think we could have done anything different on that lap, it was just the way we rode. I wanted to be on the podium and I have to say it hurts to lose, but I’m happy because Fernando had a good race. ”
One pit stop, behind Hamilton –
Perez: “Of course they had more information, but at that point we felt that our race was not progressing with Lewis. We pitted a little too early and what would have happened was a serious loss of performance, but we’ll analyze everything. “Let’s go home and see what was best.”
Watch the fight between Alonso and Perez here: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-sao-paulo-grand-prix-alonso-just-beats-perez-to-the-line -after-thrilling-battle-for-p3.1781753269483100530.html
Here’s FIA on security breach
Here’s how F1 Brazil GP panned out
Here is a link to the F1 Discord channel. Sign in to interact
