Fernando Alonso overtaking Lewis Hamilton was ‘tough as nails,’ laments Helmut Marko

Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko recently stated that he truly enjoyed the on-track battle between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Bahrain GP last week.

The former McLaren teammates put on a show for the crowd as they showcased their 'wheel-to-wheel' racing prowess in an intense battle for P4, which ended with Alonso making a stunning overtake on the seven-time world champion.

Speaking to OE24, the Austrian commented:

"It depends on what else they have up their sleeve. In any case, the duel with Hamilton was well worth seeing - tough as nails, fair, but with incredible skill. By the way, I wanted to show this scene to Max after the race, but he said he'd seen everything on the big screens anyway while he was leading the race."

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"I mean, he is a master of understanding a race" - Former world champion on Fernando Alonso

Former world champion Damon Hill complimented Fernando Alonso for his racecraft and his awareness during the races, which he showcased perfectly in the first race of the season. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Hill stated:

“Well, the view with Fernando was that he kind of used to foul his nest a little bit when he went from one team to another, and he’s got a trail of kind of rather destroyed people behind him. And so his reputation didn’t help him, and he’s zagged when he should have zigged, but he certainly zagged the right way this time with Aston Martin, and so the joy was very self-evident.

“But the guy is a master. I mean, he is a master of understanding a race, he’s a master of competing. He seems to stay out of trouble, he has picked people off in the rac,e and he’s also brilliant with his comments. You know, he knows exactly what to say to rub salt into the wounds if he has to. I think every racing driver looks at him and goes ‘Now, there’s a very formidable competitor.’”

Many are expecting Fernando Alonso to challenge the likes of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez for the championship as he certainly looks to have the car underneath him to do so.

It would be interesting to see if Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin can keep up with Red Bull and Ferrari until the end of the season. They will have more wind tunnel time to develop their car in 2023 and hopefully challenge for race wins later.