Not only did Fernando Alonso win 3rd place in the Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix, but he also realized that the speed and form of the Aston Martin was real. After finishing third behind one-two Red Bull at the season opener in Bahrain, that result was repeated at the Jeddah Corniche circuit on Sunday.
Alonso had to wait three hours from the end of the race for the result to be decided. Controversy arose over penalties during the race, with the stewards awarding a 10-second penalty for failing to honor the first five-second penalty before revoking it. But Alonso said after the race that third or fourth place was not important. “The most important thing was to make sure the car was strong,” said Alonso. “We were second fastest,” he said. “We were well ahead of Ferrari and we were controlling Mercedes. In the first period we were able to gain seven or eight seconds over George (Russell) and then five seconds at the end.” We could even have been 10 seconds behind.” We had less tire degradation in the 2018 season, so we took advantage of that.” But in Jeddah, we had more speed than the other teams. It wasn’t about the tyres.” This is very good news for us.” Apart from passing Perez on the start line and leading the opening two laps, Red Bull was still in the lead. Alonso finished more than 20 seconds behind Perez, but suggested the AMR23’s race pace was “a bit closer” to the RB19 than to Bahrain. “In Bahrain, if they pushed, they were way ahead,” said Alonso. “In Jeddah they were ahead and certainly out of hand, but we were a bit closer so that was good.” This is the first time I have led Formula 1 over the years and I was able to get the first photos, but hopefully. it’s not the last time.” I need their help, but they can’t always finish 1st and 2nd, and they will eventually.” “There are some circuits where reliability and things like that help, and those races give you a boost. I think it would be good if we could get hold of the
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