Even while fighting at 200mph, Alonso got his mid-race calculations spot on. After passing Perez at Turn 4 he held on through the rest of the technical sector two and had just enough energy left for the long run up to the line. As both drivers met the chequered flag, Perez trailed by just 0.053sec in a rare photo finish.
Alonso was met with elation in the Aston Martin garage, and even the vanquished Perez acknowledged the “great fight”, even though he had lost out to a car that hadn’t been in real podium contention since the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I remember thinking ‘How the f**k has Alonso just done that against a Red Bull?'” Deeks recalls. “Perez had every kind of advantage. It shouldn’t have been possible.
“But if you take it frame-by-frame, you can see that he does it with every single ounce of speed, momentum and energy in the car. It’s an incredible move. It’s the move of a two-time world champion.”
An EPIC battle for the final podium spot ⚔🥉 pic.twitter.com/l0gpdRHqpQ
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 5, 2023
His Sao Paulo podium was perhaps the last real highlight for Alonso in 2023, as he’d finish a distant ninth in Las Vegas and seventh in Abu Dhabi. But the performances were enough to secure fourth in the drivers’ standings — the Spaniard’s best result since 2013 — and confirmed his ability to still get the job done, even 17 years after his last title triumph.
“I remember watching Alonso in his Renault days at Silverstone,” said Deeks. “It was drizzling and he came around Stowe, did a 360 as he’s finding the limits of grip and caught the spin so quickly and carried on that his team didn’t even know he’d spun. Watching him in the wet made me understand the genius of his driving and his performance in Brazil was just another example.”
“It must have been heartbreaking for Perez because in that situation, you don’t pass a Red Bull like that on a fast circuit. For that reason, for me, it must be overtake of the year.”
Brundle agreed, labelling the move “the best high-profile pass” of the year.