05 November 2023 , 21:12
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Sergio Perez shared an embrace with Fernando Alonso after cruelly losing a spot on the podium to the Spaniard.
Max Verstappen won the Brazilian Grand Prix and, although Lando Norris kept him honest throughout, it was always clear that they would take the top two spots in that order. But third place was still very much up for grabs.
Alonso spent the vast majority of the race in that position. But Perez had been saving his tyres for a late attack on the Aston Martin driver and launched that assault with a few laps to go.
It looked as though the Mexican had his rival's number after getting past on the penultimate lap. But Alonso used all his experience to make sure he got past the Red Bull on the final lap to set up a desperate dash to the line.
Alonso had track position but Perez had the DRS down the start/finish straight. In the end, the margin was less than a tenth of a second, but the Red Bull driver was the one to miss out on a place on the podium.
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He sought out Alonso in the media pen to hug and congratulate his rival. And he was very complimentary towards the Spaniard as he reflected on how the conclusion of the Grand Prix had panned out.
"It was quite an intense battle – we tried everything," he said. "Unfortunately, we didn't succeed on that, but it was well deserved for Fernando. I think we had a great fight, very fair and to the limit. I think this is something that a lot of drivers can learn from because what we did, the way we fought today, it's how it should be done.
"I'm on the wrong side, I end up losing but it's fine because it was a great fight. We've seen in the last couple of races that the pace has been there, that we've been really strong and for some reason or another we haven't been able to get the final end result, but I just know that it's a matter of time."
Alonso, understandably, was thrilled. Aston Martin have tumbled down the pecking order in recent races after car upgrades simply didn't work and so the team decided to strip the car back to basics. It clearly worked, with the Spaniard back on the podium and Lance Stroll finishing fifth.
"I thought that I had things under control in the last stint, until maybe five laps to the end where I started pushing it even more, I had more juice in the tyres and I thought everything was fine and then Checo was playing the same game," he said of the late fight. "And he overtook me two laps to the end and I thought, 'Okay, this is gone'. And then I had one more chance and it was enough."