Alonso describes Hamilton’s decision which led to brilliant overtake
The old teammates and rivals created the standout moment of the 2023 curtain-raiser when Alonso masterfully passed Hamilton en route to a podium finish.
He then described a dramatic debut for Aston Martin to Sky Sports…
You made contact with teammate Lance Stroll on Lap 1…
Alonso said: “The start was okay. Similar to Red Bull’s, worse than Ferrari’s.
“I thought Lewis was on the inside but he wasn’t so I lost momentum there. On Turn 4 I came into problems - Lewis was too close, then Lance came from very far.
“I could not think Lance was that close! I thought it was George Russell!”
The Mercedes were both in front in the early stages…
“I stayed calm. The priority was to check that the car was fine after the hit. I knew the race was long in terms of tyre deg. But it’s not ideal when you have to overtake a lot of cars.”
You made the most of your new tyres…
“I wanted to use them properly!”
Describe overtaking Hamilton…
“I had momentum on the exit. I committed. Luckily Lewis didn’t close the door otherwise I would have hit his rear wing.
“You either do it like Lewis, and don’t close the door, or like Carlos Sainz - you close the door, then you are weak on the exit.”
You overtook Sainz but also touched cars…
“I didn’t feel [contact]. It’s the British technology! If you defend on the inside you are very weak on the exit. I had more pace and better tyres so they couldn’t stop me for long.”
A podium finish to begin the season…
“This feels good because it’s on merit. On the last few occasions when I was competitive, there were special circumstances. We have changed concept so there is a new philosophy to the car. It was an amazing start to this project.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
