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'Ferrari got lucky,' says Alonso on missing out on the podium in Baku

15:58, 30 Apr 2023

byGPblog.com

After a stunning start to the season for Fernando Alonso, the Spanish driver could not keep his run of consecutive podiums going, finishing fourth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

After a stunning start to the season for Fernando Alonso, he could not keep his run of consecutive podiums going.

Pressure put on Leclerc was not enough

Alonso did pressure the Ferarri of Charles Leclerc throughout the race with some good late-race pace, but ultimately, that could not help the Spaniard force a move past the Monegasque driver.

After taking three third places in the first three races, Alonso will now have a 'Blank Space' in his trophy cabinet, as he could not find a way onto podium for the fourth consecutive time this season.

"Lucky" Leclerc holds off Fernando

Speaking with Sky Sports after the race, he thought that Ferarri and Leclerc were not supposed to be up on the podium. "I think they got lucky [Ferrari].", said the 41-year-old. "The hard tyre had less degradation than expected. We put on the hard tyres when the safety car came, and it was 38 laps to the end. It held on quite okay, then there were some clouds at the end, and the track temp dropped."

"I think on the medium tyres, the Ferraris had massive degradation in the first stint. So, in a normal hot race, I think they will struggle more. Today, was good for them, but Miami will be a different thing."

He also went on to say that it had been quite a challenging weekend for Aston Martin, their first real struggle of what has been a surprisingly good start for them.

"We [Aston Matin] had a tricky Baku weekend with the DRS problems and set-up. We were not that fast in any of the sessions, but still 1 second from the podium, and Ferrari had a perfect weekend."