Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton met for the first time this season in Bahrain. At the first Grand Prix of the year, both arrived at the wheel of two equally competitive cars, something that had not happened in a decade of Mercedes dominance. The assault was carried off by the Spanish with a brutal overtaking that did not leave anyone indifferent.
The Spaniard passed the seven-time champion in the most difficult corner of Sakhir with a maneuver only within the reach of the best. He was forced ‘Magic’ to take out his arsenal before the great defense of the britishwho regained the position on the Aston Martin driver’s first attempt.
He could not get out of the second alive, when he fell into the trap of the double champion, who showed him the nose on the outside of the entrance of turn 9, to modify the trajectory of his AMR23 and win inside in the braking of the 10.
The overtaking was so incredible that Alonso continues to receive praise. The last one was that of the expilot Jolyon Palmer, who pointed out that “Hamilton did not expect Alonso to throw himself” in that turn, since “it is not an overtaking zone“, collect I’mMotor from the article published on the official Formula 1 website.
In this sense, the Briton has highlighted that this is especially the case in the ‘Great Circus’, since “when you are braking and turning at the same time, it is very easy to lock the left front wheel“, he has detailed.
Palmer has also explained how the Spaniard prepared the maneuver, who narrates that “he prepared the movement very well when opening up at the entrance to the curve, which allowed him to brake as straight as possible and pounce inside the Mercedes, also having DRS at the exit of the curve”, he points out.
The Englishman pointed out that Alonso “was always a different driver compared to others” when they faced each other, and he considers that “he has an incredible ability to read race situations and immense peripheral vision“, which also allows you to start thinking about the corners afterward when preparing to overtake.
For Palmer, Fernando he overtook Sainz and Hamilton “in the old fashioned way”, since in current F1 it is “very rare for drivers to go wheel to wheel in this way”, which is also not helped by the fact that “more and more tracks seem to be designed for overtaking with DRS”. For this reason, “I love the overtaking that he did.”
The Briton is also optimistic about whether Alonso could get his thirty-third victory in the top flight this year. “I wouldn’t bet against it after his ‘masterclass’ in Bahrain”he has confessed.
