Alonso explains what 'game' he played to beat Perez in Brazil

Aston Martin had things right on Friday during qualifying by sending their drivers out early. With Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso on P3 and P4, they had good chances for the race. A poor first start quickly put an end to that, but on the restart, Alonso recaptured P3 from Lewis Hamilton.

That third spot seemed to be lost by Alonso to Sergio Perez. The Mexican fought his way from the back to the front and joined Alonso some 20 laps before the end of the race. Enough time to pass with your RB19 you would say, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alonso held off Perez until the penultimate lap.

This is how Alonso stayed ahead of Perez in Brazil

"I think when you run just in front of another car, you have better downforce, you have clean air, and that was maybe good for maintenance of tyre management. And he was struggling a little bit to go into Turns 10, 11 and 12 behind another car. And that was probably the game that we were playing. Those three corners were crucial for the overtaking opportunity. When you are the car in front, you have better grip, always," said Alonso after the race.

"I was just making sure that I was not making any mistakes in those three corners because if not, Checo would be too close. I was using the energy also in the straights just to make sure that there was no opportunity for Checo. We were just changing lines sometimes. I didn't want to be always on the same line. So I was just trying to get some turbulence to his front nose."

For a while, it looked like Perez would still win beat Alonso. On the penultimate lap, Checo passed the Spaniard, but at the start of the last lap, Perez still threw it away. The Mexican slowed in turn one, which saw Alonso have a better exit towards turn four. On the final straight, Perez still came close, but a photo finish showed that Alonso crossed the finish line narrowly ahead.