Alonso and Hamilton, like cat and mouse: "Lewis has a lot of quality and experience, but I have more"

Five years after that “See you later” to F1, Fernando Alonso closed his best World Cup in more than a decade at the age of 42. After finishing seventh at the Yas Marina finish line, he was able to regain fourth place in the championship, with 206 points, the same as Charles Leclerc and one more than Lando Norris. He seemed happy, despite the fact that since Thursday he had warned about the anecdotal nature of the final position. In fact, as soon as he saw the checkered flag, he requested permission to burn the wheels of his Aston Martin.. When they denied him, the Asturian replied with a joke, the first on Sunday. “With the burnout I had in the first corner in Las Vegas I think it was enough”.

Communications with his engineers were permeated by the satisfaction of a job well done. “We had an incredible season. Thank you and have a good holiday. Next year we will come back stronger,” Alonso announced on the radio, without any shame in being “proud” of his teammates.. “The 2024 World Cup will be easier for us,” he concluded, to the applause of the green garage..

Logically, the joy was redoubled in light of the equality in the table. And Alonso, with 206 points, the same as Leclerc, had to go to the third tiebreaker to certify his success in the 2023 World Cup.. Without victories to take in their mouths, the Spaniard and the Monegasque added three second places (Monaco, Canada, and the Netherlands against Austria, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi). So the tiebreaker factor was played with the third place on the podium: there the Spaniard had five, for only three for the Ferrari driver..

“Who would have thought a top-5?”

Lewis Hamilton, with a 28-point advantage, finished third in the World Championship, although with the disappointing close of a ninth place in Yas Marina. In addition, the seven-time champion was involved in a notorious incident with Alonso in turn 5. An episode that Alonso described in great detail in the DAZN F1 microphones. “He protested about how I braked, but I was only trying to give him the DRS and then overtake him. It's something we already did during the 2012 Canadian GP.. So, 11 years later, we have repeated the same game of cat and mouse in the DRS line. He has a lot of quality and also a lot of experience, but I have more,” he said, into the DAZN microphones.

“On a personal level it was a year of 10, in line with 2012, with eight podiums and almost 300 points for Aston Martin, which concludes with the best season in its history, whether with this name or under Racing Point and Force India” , analyzed the man from Oviedo, only dissatisfied with that fourth place in the Constructors' World Championship, which ended up in the hands of McLaren.. “I feel very proud because when I was testing the car here, 12 months ago, who would have thought it would finish in the top-5 of the World Cup?” he concluded.

With 97 days left until March 2, the start date of the 2024 World Championship in Bahrain, Alonso wanted to send a message to the Aston Martin staff, both those deployed to the circuits and those from the Silverstone factory.. “Now we have to do a good job, because we have a lot of homework for the coming weeks,” he stressed, referring to the step backwards evident in Austin, Mexico or Las Vegas.. “Here we had a car that had to fight until the last lap with AlphaTauri. And this is not enough, neither for my 33rd victory nor for other goals, so we have to get on with it.”

As a finishing touch to a happy Sunday, Alonso did not miss the opportunity to have a good time with Max Verstappen in the mixed zone. The three-time world champion, armed with a microphone, wanted to interview the Spaniard, always scathing in his answers. “My career was more exciting than yours,” he summarized.. When the roles were exchanged, Alonso asked about Mad Max's vacation plans. “Do as little as possible,” concluded the three-time champion.