"Ferrari had a perfect weekend" - Fernando Alonso insists Aston Martin needs to be 'happy' with their result in Baku

Fernando Alonso has stated that Aston Martin must be satisfied with their performance at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On the streets of Baku, Alondo finished P4, behind Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc. His teammate Lance Stroll finished P7, behind Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc and Alonso were locked in an intense battle for the final position on Sunday, April 30. While the Ferrari driver eventually finished 21 seconds adrift of race winner Perez, he held off the Spaniard's challenge by 0.8 seconds to end his run of consecutive podiums this season.

Speaking after the race, two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso stated that Aston Martin should be happy with the results and predicted that 'lucky' Ferrari will have a tough time at the next Grand Prix. He said (via autosport):

“I think they got lucky. The hard tyre was less degradation than expected. We put the hard tyre on when the safety car came [for AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries clipping the Turn 5 inside wall]. It was 38 laps to the end. It held on quite OK and also [there] was some clouds at the end so track temperature was dropping.”

He added:

“I think with the mediums, the Ferraris had massive degradation in the first stint. On a normal hot race, I think they will struggle a little bit more. Today was good for them but Miami [next race, humid conditions] is going to be different.”

The 41-year-old praised his team by stating that on their 'bad' day, they were only marginally slower than a Ferrari car that seemingly faced no issues. He opined:

“The summary of the weekend is that Aston had a tricky Baku weekend with the DRS problems and the set-up. We were not that fast in any of the sessions and we’re still 1s from the podium.”

He added:

“Ferrari, they had a perfect weekend: pole position for the main race, pole position in the sprint race, super-fast car. They were just 1s from the Astons so overall we have to be happy.”

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"I cannot be satisfied" - Charles Leclerc's grim assessment of Ferrari after 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Charles Leclerc bemoaned the massive gap between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing after the 2023 Azerbaijan GP. The Monagasque was unable to keep up with both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, who overtook him with ease and raced into a comfortable lead.

Speaking to Viaplay, Leclerc stated that he was not satisfied with his P3 finish, though he did express satisfaction at having a smooth race without any mishaps. He said:

"We are 21 seconds behind the leaders so I cannot be satisfied. Having said that, considering the first three races of the season, I'm happy to have had a trouble-free weekend where we cooled (off and) scored some good points. But there's still a lot of work to do. The Red Bull is a better car by quite a bit in terms of race pace."