Aston Martin boss reviews possibility of Fernando Alonso overtaking Lewis Hamilton towards end of 2023 Australian F1 GP

While Max Verstappen was in a league of his own for most of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were locked in an intense battle for P2.

The two kept trading the fastest lap times and tried to outsmart each other with strategies and radio messages. In the end, with two late red flags, Alonso had to settle for third while Hamilton finished second behind Verstappen.

With the third and final red flag effectively seeing the race finish behind the safety car, no driver had the opportunity to better his position in the closing stages.

When asked if the red flag took away Alonso's opportunity to overtake Hamilton, Aston Martin CEO disagreed, stating that the early red flag, following Alex Albon's crash, saw all drivers trying to nurse their tires till the end.

He said (via Motorsport-Total):

"I'm not sure [if Fernando Alonso could have attacked Lewis Hamilton at the end of the race if there hadn't been a red flag]. Overtaking is very difficult here. Because of the first red flag, everyone was on the C2 [tire] and everyone tried to go through to the end. [Nobody dared to really attack so as not to burn the tires] so I don't think we've seen a representation of real pace from all the cars."

---

Fernando Alonso happy with P3 finish at 2023 Australian GP

Fernando Alonso finished P3 at the 2023 Australian GP, replicating his results in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. With that, he registered his longest podium streak in a decade, having last achieved the feat in 2013, when he was on the podium in Belgium, Italy and Singapore.

Despite a late collision with Carlos Sainz sending him spinning down the standings, a third red flag meant the FIA decided to restart the race in the same order as the previous restart. This meant Alonso stayed third, with the race finishing behind the safety car.

In a post-race media interaction, Alonso expressed his joy at the result, saying:

"Rollercoaster of emotions today with many things going on. The last half an hour, it was difficult to understand what was going on at the end but it was a good race for us in terms of pace. The Mercedes were very fast and obviously did an incredible job today so I could not get close enough and ended in P3. We have three third places now, let's get higher on the list."