The Mexican teammate did secure the best possible starting position by going fastest around the
Miami International Autodrome in qualifying on Saturday. However, it was not enough for victory.
"He eventually made it in Q3 and did a fantastic lap but it took him a lot of thinking, a lot of understanding what he was needing, a lot of looking at the data where Max was faster. I mean, Max was super fast looking at the data from turn five, six, seven eight, all that section of the sector one, he was unbelievably weaker than not Checo than everyone else, you know. And that's the difference, I think. Max came back strong, but he felt like at home since lap one here."Fernando Alonso grabbed his fourth podium finish in five Grand Prix weekends. For a while after the end of the third free practice session, it did not look like the Aston Martin driver could finish third in the race. The pace in the AMR23 did not seem to be there, as Alonso finished 12th and
Lance Stroll had to make do with 14th. It ended up being a second starting place in qualifying.
"
I think he [Alonso] drove incredibly well," De la Rosa said of his compatriot's performance.
"I was very impressed how he managed the medium tyre at the beginning of the race, having the pressure off. Carlos Sainz was flying on the Ferrari on that tyre Then they went to the hard tyre and they seemed to lose a lot of pace. But man, it's so difficult to think about the tyre and have someone stuck on your gearbox opening the DRS in every straights.
So it was it was a fantastic weekend, you know, really well managed," he concluded.