Why did Fernando Alonso feel Ferrari was lucky at the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP?

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso felt Ferrari was lucky at Baku as the hard tire had much less degradation than expected. As a result, Ferrari was able to fend off his challenge.

Alonso hounded Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for the most part after the safety car start. The Spaniard ended the race just one second behind Charles Leclerc and felt that Ferrari got lucky in Baku.

Speaking about the Italian F1 team, Fernando Alonso stated that since the race did not feature much or any tire degradation, Ferrari was able to fend off his challenge. Speaking to Sky Sports about the race, Alonso said:

“I think they got lucky. The hard tires was less degradation than expected. I think we put the hard tire [on] when the Safety Car came and it was 38 laps to the end, and it held on quite well, and also there were some clouds now towards the end, so the track temperature was dropping.

"I think with the mediums, the Ferraris they had a massive degradation in the first stint, so on a normal hot race, I think they will struggle a little bit more. Today was good for them, but Miami is going be a different thing.”

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Aston Martin has to be happy with the result, feels Fernando Alonso

Looking back at the kind of a weekend that Aston Martin had, Fernando Alonso felt that the team should be happy with the result.

Aston Martin faced DRS issues all weekend, the setup was not good and the car was not competitive in the practice session either. Looking at these factors, Alonso said:

“The summary of the weekend is that Aston had a tricky Baku weekend let’s say. With the DRS problems, on the setup, we were not that fast in any of the sessions, and we’re still one second from the podium. And Ferrari, they had the perfect weekend, pole position on the main race, pole position on the sprint race, super fast car and they were just one second from the Astons. So overall, we have to be happy.”

Alonso's streak of securing a podium at every race this season came to an end in Baku as the driver could only finish P4 in the race.

Having said that, his drive through the field to climb his way up to fourth was still very impressive and a testament to how well the driver is still performing.