"You have to leave the space": When Sebastian Vettel mocked Fernando Alonso in a press conference

Back in 2012, Fernando Alonso raced against Nico Rosberg in the Bahrain GP. When Alonso tried to overtake him from the right, Rosberg closed the door on him by weaving towards the right, forcing Alonso to drive off the track. Eventually, the Spaniard backed off and immediately got onto the radio to say that drivers should always leave sufficient space and avoid closing the gap in such a manner.

Shortly after, this quote became quite famous around the paddock. A few races later, in a drivers' press conference before the 2012 Spanish GP, Sebastian Vettel humorously quoted what Alonso said at the start of the season. The German driver stated:

"Fernando made it pretty clear, he said, 'You have to leave the space, all the time you have to leave the space.'"

Interestingly, Vettel even mimicked Alonso's Spanish accent while quoting him. Immediately after, he humorously patted Alonso on the back, indicating that he was only mocking him in jest. Fernando Alonso smiled and agreed to the statement, but didn't leave Vettel without a prompt response. The Spaniard mentioned how he had left space for Vettel during their wheel-to-wheel battle at the 2011 Italian GP.

In that race, Vettel tried to overtake the Ferrari driver around the Curva Grande (turn 3), but the latter gradually closed the gap just enough to force Vettel to send half of his car off the track. However, Alonso didn't go completely to the end to fully force Vettel off the track.

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Fernando Alonso believes that Aston Martin still needs to improve before winning championships

Although Aston Martin has shocked the entire paddock and millions of fans in the 2023 F1 season, Fernando Alonso still feels that his team needs to improve in order to win championships. He explained how he and his team should focus on learning their car and improving race by race. During an interview with Bang & Olufsen, he said:

“I think at the moment we have to keep the feet in the ground. The aim for the team is just to have a good season. They were struggling a lot in 2022. So I think we have to walk before [we] run. And I think this 2023 campaign is just about getting better, getting to know the car better, start a new project from day one. That’s where we are at the moment.”

He added:

“Hopefully we will have more podiums. Hopefully we fight for race wins. But I think to fight for the championship, I think we need to, as I said, set the team a little bit before doing that.”

Fernando Alonso hopes to stand on more podiums and eventually get some race wins. The Spaniard still feels that the team has a long way to go before they are capable of winning championships.