2023-04-30 15:09:11
Since that March 5 in Bahrain, on his return to life with a green car, Fernando Alonso holds a bone and will not let go until he takes it to his lair. It’s his attitude towards the sport and that’s why he is who he is. Reliable as Swiss watch, hard as flint and now uncompromising with success in sight. In Baku, a circuit that was contrary to the characteristics of his Aston Martin, the Spaniard squeezed the juice to the last drop and sealed a magnificent fourth place. A quality comeback, he came out sixth, to the Hamilton and Sainz casserole.
It was a great victory for the Mexican ‘Checo’ Pérez, who, like everyone else, showed up one day at Red Bull with a gregarious face to the untouchable Max Verstappen. Pérez won the mini-sprint on Saturday and also the largest piece on Sunday. And Verstappen didn’t even worry him.
Carlos Sainz, who lived the weekend in the anxiety of discomfort that he confesses more than he should, defended himself with claw against the wolves. He surpassed Alonso, with whom he did not argue and could not do it this time. But he kept Hamilton at bay in a Numantine custody of his fifth place, very valuable for his confidence.
“The Red Bulls play in another league,” admits openly Charles Leclerc, the pole-sitter owner whom the two Red Bulls passed with a jet-powered Concorde on the very long 2.2-kilometre straight.
Some magic potion possesses the DRS (the rear wing open to gain speed) of the Red Bull, some spell was perpetrated on that car by the wizard of aerodynamics, Adrian Newey, to decree such overwhelming superiority.
The two Red Bulls ate Leclerc as if Red Bull and Ferrari competed in different categories. It’s another league, indeed, because the energetic cars finished with a 21-second advantage at the finish line over third after 51 laps. That is outrageous.
There can only be a surprise this stretch of the season if the time cuts take effect in the wind tunnel hours or if both Red Bulls make some potent mistake over the weekend. Otherwise they seem unapproachable in the spring.
In the fight for the Champions League, Alonso no longer holds back. By a few hundredths he did not manage to stretch the Aston Martin until reaching the second or less essential to activate the DRS and overtake Leclerc in the last third of the race.
He beat Sainz
Long before he had done a colossal job mixing speed, knowledge and, above all, audacity. With a better pace, he overtook Hamilton, who came in to change tires when he had the Spaniard on his back.
And with courage and determination the overtaking of Carlos Sainz was cooked up, in an unforeseen area, in the slow part, playing by surprise with the powerful exit from the curves of the Aston Martin.
The British team today looks like a pool of oil, which favors coexistence and results. «Tell Alonso that I am not going to attack him», warned Stroll on the radio at the beginning of the test. “If he wants, he can try,” replied the Spaniard. “Tell Stroll my brake balance, it will be fine,” Alonso recommended on the radio.
At the moment the Canadian son of the owner is not an enemy for the Spanish. Alonso’s aspiration is focused on not losing ground with the Red Bulls, managing this current disadvantage with few losses (he already has 60 points, third in the championship) and trusting in the end of the season if there are improvements and progress at Aston Martin.
That is why at the last minute, the race was a festival of assault on the fastest lap. An extra point that everyone pursued hard. Pérez, Alonso, Leclerc, Verstappen… Finally the point went to Russell, who rode red wheels (the fast ones) for it.
Carlos Sainz had an outstanding behavior against Hamilton. It was the best version of him in the entire Grand Prix, that protective shield that he mounted around his head to prevent the Englishman from scratching his points and morale. Faced with the fiery defense of the man from Madrid, Hamilton gave up and preferred to tie up his sixth position rather than expose himself to an abandonment (the walls are threatening in Baku) in the attempt to chase Sainz.
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