Perez: “You can have a fight like that with very few drivers”

Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin AMR23 was in third place for most of the Interlago race, but just after the halfway point, Sergio Perez in the Red Bull RB19 managed to work his way from the back and pull the Spaniard to within a second.

After several laps in which neither of them made the slightest mistake, the Mexican managed to overtake the Spaniard on the brakes on the straight on the penultimate lap. But at the same time, a lap later, Alonso noticed a slight deceleration from Perez on the brakes in turn one, took the opportunity and overtook the RB19 again in turn 4. At the end of the lap and the race, he saw the checkered flag with a gap of 53mm Second.

Although Perez was naturally disappointed, he praised Alonso’s skills after the Brazilian GP: “I have to congratulate Fernando because we had a great fight. She was very fair. And that’s a really good thing because no matter how hard we fight with each other, we always leave enough space.” said the Mexican.

“I believe this is the case with very few of the guidebooks we have network you can do something like that. They know that Fernando will always try to play every game, but he will always be fair. It was a great fight. Whoever was on the podium deserved it, and they did.

A lot of riders can learn from the way we fought because that’s what I think you should do. I’m on the wrong side because I lost, but that’s okay. I don’t think I could have done anything differently. I would have liked to have been on the podium, it hurts me to lose, but I am happy for Fernando because he drove a good race.”the 33-year-old added.

At the same time, former F1 and Ferrari driver (1992), Ivan Capelli, expressed his impression of the battle won by Alonso: “Champions wake up in the morning feeling that this is their day, and the opportunity was there from the start of the game [στον Αλόνσο] to stay close to the front and control the situation, especially in the last laps”said the Italian.

“Fernando also saw how he was able to keep Sergio Perez behind him by charging the battery under pressure on the home straight after 20 laps. A normal driver would have given up if he had lost position on the last lap, but he looked again for the overtaking maneuver, which he managed with his power and proved that – despite these modern cars – a champion can still make the difference. “Capelli concluded.

However, although Perez narrowly lost this battle with Alonso, he left Interlago with many positives: he increased his lead over Lewis Hamilton for second place in the championship from 20 to 32 points and also continued his efforts to understand and adapt RB19 to improve its results.

“Yes, without a doubt” Perez responded to a related question. “After Qatar, I went back to the team factory and we realized we were doing a lot wrong. “In Austin we were a little limited, but in Mexico it was pretty good. I had an exit, but I was very close to the top. [Στη Βραζιλία] It took me a while to get through them Mercedes And basically that ruined my race.

So I think we’re making significant progress. We had the speed in the last few races, but for one reason or another we just couldn’t put it all together. I think it’s just a matter of time before we get there,” concluded the Mexican.

The director of RBR, Christian Horner, also agreed with Perez’s impression: “I think Czeko drove surprisingly well. He had a small problem in Turn 2 which allowed Fernando, who was very fast on the straights, to attack him. He did his best to maintain his position.said the Brit.

And he came to the conclusion: “It’s great that Czeko got 12 points more than Hamilton over these three days.” It was a very strong fight for him. I think this is important for his confidence. I think that was the Czech we knew, who we knew what he was capable of. This will give him the boost he needs as we head out to another street circuit [στο Λας Βέγκας] where things always go well.