Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says Fernando Alonso used all his experience – and some unconventional racing lines – to beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to the podium in last Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
After future race winner max Verstappen and Lando Norris had checked out at the head of the field, a proper showdown for the final spot on the podium developed between Alonso and Perez.
The Spaniard had held the advantage over his rival in the second half of the 71-lap event, but as the race reached its closing stages, the battle between the two drivers intensified with Perez relentlessly hounding his rival for all his worth.
After snapping at Alonso’s heels, Perez finally made it through on the penultimate lap when he lunged down the inside of the Aston Martin at Interlagos’ Turn 1.
It was then Alonso’s turn to stalk Perez’s machine. On the final lap, as the crowed held its collective breadth, the Spaniard forced Perez to move slightly offline in the opening sequence of corners.
With the help of DRS, and using all his finesse, the Aston charger powered around the outside of the Red Bull at Turn 4 before taking an untypical wide line into the last corner to slingshot him up the hill and onto the main straight but with Perez in tow.
The Mexican darted out of the Aston’s slipstream to pull up alongside his rival, but it was too little too late for the Red Bull driver, with Alonso edging Perez by just 0.053s at the checkered flag.
"It was an interesting fight in the last couple of laps,” commented Krack. “Obviously, the closer you go to the end of the race, the more exciting it gets…
"You could see that we took some lines that were maybe a bit unconventional, let's say. But Sergio behind was told to do the same, interestingly.
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"So basically, you could really see the interesting dynamics that develop there - everybody tried to manage his tyres to be strong in the parts where you can overtake. And this was quite interesting.
"You saw the huge experience, how [Alonso] managed his game there against someone that on paper has a quicker car."
With degradation a major concern in last weekend’s race, Krack noted how Alonso had adapted his driving to protect his tyres in certain corners while making the most of his rubber in others.
But the Aston chief admitted that the race’s nail-biting epilogue could have gone either way after Perez gained the upper hand on the penultimate lap.
"You never know how much juice everybody has in his tank so this is really dictating how it's going to end,” he said.
"Then, going for the last time down the back straight to Turn 4, I think Fernando prepared it really well from the exit of Turn 1 and Turn 2, and managed to overtake."
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