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The 2023 F1 Australian Grand Prix gave us arguably the most chaotic and drama-filled race we have witnessed in a while and ended with Fernando Alonso further extending his streak of finishing every race of the season so far on the podium.
Despite Carlos Sainz's Ferrari making contact with the Aston Martin at the beginning of the final race start, Alonso maintained his position in third, behind race winner Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who came second. Overall, it turned out to be a great result for Aston Martin with both their cars finishing the race in the top four.
In a post-race media interaction, Fernando Alonso said:
"Rollercoaster of emotions today with many things going on. The last half an hour, it was difficult to understand what was going on at the end but it was a good race for us in terms of pace. The Mercedes were very fast and obviously did an incredible job today so I could not get close enough and ended in P3."
"The first red flag did helped up because George [Russell] and Carlos [Sainz] came in and we got places for free. The second one probably didn't help us, obviously with the incident there. P3 and P4 is an amazing Sunday for the team. We have three third places now, let's get higher on the list."
Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso and hence finished the race in P12.
Fernando Alonso disagrees with Lewis Hamilton's statement about Red Bull
Lewis Hamilton recently claimed that Red Bull's 2023 challenger is the fastest car he has ever seen in F1. However, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has a very different opinion.
Alonso took a slight jab at his former team-mate, accusing Hamilton of having a "short memory" from 2014 and 2015. During this time, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton absolutely dominated the grid in their unbeatable Mercedes.
Speaking to L'Equipe, the Spaniard said:
“I don’t agree at all. Last week (in Saudi Arabia), I finished 20 seconds behind Checo and Max (Verstappen). He and (Nico) Rosberg were a minute ahead in 2014 and 2015. ... He has a short memory; he’s getting old!”
He added:
“With a normal car, you can see that he has weaknesses. Before, he drove alone or sometimes with his teammate. But look, he is the record holder for poles ,and George Russell has just given him a 2-0 in qualifying this season. It just goes to show how much the car is still a key factor…”
Last year was the first season in which Lewis Hamilton failed to secure a race win, so it will certainly be interesting to see whether or not the seven-time world champion will make it back to the top in 2023.
