Fernando Alonso says he was wary of lunging at Max Verstappen in the final laps of the Dutch Grand Prix after finishing second behind his rival.
Verstappen led Alonso to the chequered flag after a late restart. Alonso was able to stay with the Red Bull on the wet circuit, but never got close enough to attempt a pass. Verstappen went on to score his third consecutive with at Zandvoort, to the delight of the Dutch fans.“This is a very special race track with all the fans and the energy going on, so you feel always very focussed,” said Alonso. “I did think about trying a move in the last restart [on Max], but then I thought maybe I cannot exit the circuit, so I stayed calm in second.”
Alonso equalled his best result of the season so far with second place and reached the podium for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix in mid-June.
“Two years ago when this race came I thought I will never experience maybe the Zandvoort podium because I was not in the position to think about that,” he said. “And today it’s going to be very special to share the podium with Max and Pierre.”
He started from fifth on the grid, but gained ground early in the race when he was one of the first drivers to pit following a rain shower which hit the track on lap one.
“It was a very intense race,” said Alonso. “Obviously at the beginning with the wet conditions we were very, very fast.
“We stopped maybe one lap too late, but the same as the leaders, and the car was flying today, very competitive, very easy to drive. In these conditions you need a car that you can trust, and I did trust the car a lot today so I did enjoy it.”
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2023 Dutch Grand Prix
- Azerbaijan GP defeat was key to record-equalling run of wins – Verstappen
- “Too early to say” if podium signals return to form for Aston Martin – Alonso
- Verstappen makes history with unbeaten hat-track in first home races
- Perez is ‘doing his job and will be our driver in 2024’, Horner insists
- Ferrari had the “sixth or seventh fastest car” at Zandvoort – Sainz
Jeffrey Powell
27th August 2023, 18:05
I can see he might be a bit concerned Max ‘s fans might be a bit unforgiving perhaps a tad over enthusiastic not to exaggerate their desire not to say insistence on a win for their boy, even though he is actually Belgian I believe.
Richard
27th August 2023, 18:24
Really? It was a joke from Alonso. And there was a lot of live on track for Alonso. Please do not read to much into this
Jeffrey Powell
27th August 2023, 19:03
Mine was a joke to. Calm down!
J Soulsby (@jmsoulsby)
27th August 2023, 19:58
Then you need to state that to make it a bit clearer. Just a ;) would have done.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
27th August 2023, 20:49
Lol Fernando is joking obviously, not even Jesus could have seen through that spray off of the Red Bull and out braked it. Alonso is still a top 3 talent IMO though.
Yellow Baron
28th August 2023, 0:50
Should’ve tried a lung anyway. Would hs e made it interesting for us lol
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
28th August 2023, 4:05
He did give it a bit of a look in, but presumably his experience told him the risk was too high for the reward.
AM need as many points as they can get. Losing points to a RB is irrelevant as they’re already behind with realistically no hope of catching them. Making a lunge and potentially taking them both out is just a net loss for AM. Was the smart move by ALO.
I do appreciate it would’ve been more exciting though.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
28th August 2023, 7:20
Aston Martin realistically needs a competitive second driver to bag big points in the constructors championship.
Anuj Chopra
28th August 2023, 8:48
They should think about Albon next year.
Mayrton
28th August 2023, 7:25
I liked the crowd chanting his name at the post race interview. Much respect for him.