Also in Brazil, Max Verstappen’s classic monologue was staged at the head of the race which this year led him to achieve seventeen victories in twenty races, an absolute record for the category both in terms of percentages and absolute successes. The Dutchman seemed unstoppable, but it was behind him that the fight arose that kept the fans in suspense until the checkered flag.
The duel in question is the one between Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, with the latter author of a race managed with great authority, even in moments when that long-sought podium seemed almost lost. A third place built with an excellent qualifying on Friday where, with a good strategy which had seen the two Astons be the first to leave the pit lane, the single-seaters of the Silverstone team had completely occupied the second row, putting potentially faster.
This represented a fundamental element in the Spaniard’s race economy, especially because it allowed him to avoid traffic in the first stint, thus being able to manage the tires more calmly while still increasing his advantage over the drivers behind him. To achieve this, however, it was essential to complete the overtaking on Hamilton after the restart, given that otherwise the race could have taken on totally different scenarios.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates with his trophy
“I think that, honestly, the most important overtaking of the race was the one on Hamilton on the first lap. It changed my race. If I start from fourth position and have to fight with Hamilton in the first stint, even if I end up catching him and overtaking him on the tenth lap or so, my tires will never be in a position to extend the first stint and then have an advantage on Checo in the second stint and in the third stint, so for me there is a crucial moment in my race and it is the first lap, at turn 4 with Hamilton,” said Alonso.
After the first start, Sergio Perez found himself in seventh place: undoubtedly better than the ninth place obtained in qualifying having not been able to complete the lap due to the yellow flags, but not enough to avoid being stuck behind the two Mercedes in the first part of race, thus finding himself over eight seconds behind the Asturian after only twenty laps.
The advantage gained initially also generated another positive consequence, namely the fact of being able to delay the first stop, thus creating a disparity in one’s favor in terms of tire life. Although the Red Bull driver was able to halve the gap by anticipating the pit stop, at the same time Aston Martin felt they were in no hurry, so much so that Alonso then found himself with five laps fresher tires and a gap that was still quite large. wide enough to be able to tackle the stint without being forced to force the pace in the initial phase. Even in this case, the fact of having had that little treasure at his disposal worked in the two-time world champion’s favor.
![Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, comes into the pits for a pit stop](https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl/Yv8jjRe0/s1000/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-a-1.jpg)
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, comes into the pits for a pit stop
In less than ten laps, Perez had almost managed to close the gap that had been created by Alonso to just over a second, right at the edge of the DRS zone. However, the Mexican then paid for the initial effort in the second half of the stint, when his times rose, while those of the Aston Martin standard-bearer remained essentially constant, demonstrating excellent tire management. With the gap between the two widening ever more substantially, Red Bull had therefore decided to recall Perez: if on the occasion of the first stop the Silverstone team found itself in a situation that had allowed it to wait, it was different was the situation at the second pit stop.
In reality, the Spaniard had also proposed staying out, given the good work done in containing tire degradation, but in the end the choice not to risk prevailed, thus changing tires in the next step. Now that the two were on the same compound and with minimal wear, everything seemed ready for an intense battle. An overtaking that probably would have happened if Alonso hadn’t taken over, showing off his talent and tactical intelligence.
Knowing that Perez would close the gap sooner or later, just as had already happened previously, in the first laps of the third stint the Spaniard chose not to stress the tires, maintaining a slightly slower pace in order to ensure that there was enough rubber to face an inevitable duel. But as soon as the Red Bull closed to just over a second, Alonso suddenly improved his pace, dropping below one minute and fifteen in an attempt to keep Perez out of the DRS zone.
![Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates upon arrival at Parc Ferme](https://cdn-4.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0oOBBol0/s1000/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-f-1.jpg)
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates upon arrival at Parc Ferme
The interesting aspect is also concentrated in the interpretation of certain curves, more specifically those in the second sector, where Aston Martin could run in clean air and create a small margin of advantage to spend in preparing for the final half time. Comparing the two rivals, we can see how Alonso favored particular lines that favored the traction phase on exit, while Perez tried to gain as much as possible in the first part of the corner by cutting on entry, so much so that on several occasions his engineer track had suggested him to imitate the Asturian’s trajectories. This difference can also be seen in turn twelve, where the Aston Martin driver tended to follow a wider line in order to anticipate the return to the accelerator while also maximizing the footprint of the tires with a car that was as straight as possible. . A situation opposite to that of the Mexican who, trying to facilitate the insertion, exited that stretch with a lower speed.
“I think that when you race in front of another car, you have a better load, you are in clean air and this was perhaps good for tire management. AND [Perez] he struggled a bit in turns 10, 11 and 12 while being behind another car. And that was probably the game we were playing. Those three corners were crucial to try to overtake,” the two-time world champion said during interviews. This approach worked until the final laps, when the degradation began to be felt, giving the Mexican the opportunity to get closer and attempt the attack on the penultimate lap after recharging his batteries.
Perez passed the Spaniard at the first chicane, but was never able to get away because he always played defense, wading into the mirrors with lines that clearly affected his performance. Alonso took advantage of this by replying in the following lap with an overtake on the straight leading to turn four, also due to the fact that the Red Bull representative had opted for a very cautious approach in defense of turn one, thus not being able to count on a good exit from turn three. The two-time world champion then admitted that he thought he had missed out on the podium when he initially lost third place, but that very indecision opened up the opportunity to reply at the end: “When he passed me with two laps to go, I thought: ‘Ok, it’s gone, the podium is no longer possible’. But he braked a little late into Turn 1 and I said, ‘Ok, I’ll try turn 4.'”
![Telemetry comparison between Alonso and Perez in Brazil: you can notice the different interpretation at the last corner](https://cdn-6.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0ZRaQ850/s1000/confronto-telemetrico-brasile--1.jpg)
Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro
Telemetry comparison between Alonso and Perez in Brazil: you can notice the different interpretation at the last corner
The two then engaged in a spectacular head-to-head on the straight which ended with a gap of just 53 thousandths under the checkered flag, thus bringing Alonso back for the eighth time this season to the podium that had been missing for Zandvoort. After a difficult period in which Aston Martin had not been able to find the right place in understanding the car, a performance like this, also from teammate Lance Stroll, good at achieving a good fifth place, was what the stable needed.
In Brazil the AMR23 seemed revitalized with a return to the old, removing some of the updates that had been introduced over the weekend of the US GP. Tom McCullough, Team Performance Director of the British team, explained that that package also represented the desire to carry out experiments on some concepts that could potentially be proposed again next year, in order to “push the limits in some areas of the surface”.
There is still a belief that some parts of the new package did not work as hoped and the fact that both in the United States and Mexico the team carried out comparative tests is confirmation of this. For this reason the engineers then decided to take a step back, returning to a previous specification of the fund. Now it will be up to the technicians to analyze the data and fully understand what went wrong, so that certain difficulties do not arise again in the future.
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