• Report Humor, nostalgia and Tik Tok, the cocktail of the second 'Alonsomania': "How can they not love him if he lay down in a hammock?"

For Fernando Alonso, in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, bad news, good news and a very good news.

The bad? The Mercedes are back. In the midst of the team's crisis, with a debate inside about the nature of their car, after publicly admitting that they are 'inspiring' the Red Bulls to improve, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton placed second and third on the grid behind Max Verstappen and presented themselves as candidates for the podium at the Albert Park circuit. In Saudi Arabia they were already Alonso's main threat for third place and this Sunday (07.00 hours, DAZN) the same will happen.

The Spaniard, in fact, will start just behind them, in fourth position, and equality predicts spectacle. Behind will be the Ferraris, with Carlos Sainz fifth and Charles Leclerc seventh, but their problems with the degradation of the tires rule them out, at first, for that battle.

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Formula 1.

Humor, nostalgia and Tik Tok, the cocktail of the second 'Alonsomania': "How can they not love him if he lay down in a hammock?"

  • Writing: JAVIER SÁNCHEZ

Humor, nostalgia and Tik Tok, the cocktail of the second 'Alonsomania': "How can they not love him if he lay down in a hammock?"

If a fourth place is bad news, what's good? That one of the two Red Bull drivers suffered problems again. This time it was not Max Verstappen, as in Arabia, and this time it does not seem a solvable problem. On his first lap of Q1, Checo Pérez, who had already experienced several scares in free practice, blocked his front tires, went off at turn 3 and there he stayed, stranded, waiting for the crane. He will start last and in a very narrow circuit like the Australian his chances of comeback are minimal. If he finishes on the podium it will be a miracle, a prodigious, historic performance. Logic places him in the top 8, in the Top 5 if he is fully right.

And what is the very good news? That Alonso is still there. It seems reiteration, and it is already reiteration, but in Aston Martin, with such a new car, they still expect something to fail on some track, whatever it is. After the success of Bahrain, they believed it would happen in Arabia and after the success in Arabia, they believed it would happen in Australia. The drama does not come. Alonso's car is fast, very fast, on all kinds of circuits and that's how it will be all season. This Saturday in qualifying the Spaniard even allowed himself some small error in the last sector to place fourth, always ahead of his teammate, Lance Stroll, who will start sixth.

"It's the closest time we have been to Verstappen, the best of the season. With Checo out we can score points for the championship, although there will be the Mercedes. They always regret so much, they want to abandon this car and look, they are already going fast. In the middle of the year they will be to win races," Alonso said in the mixed zone, where he assessed his chances of victory: "If there is a massacre in front, I will take advantage. The Red Bulls are far ahead, although there is only one. It's going to be entertaining."

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  • Australia
  • Max Verstappen
  • Fernando Alonso
  • Articles Javier Sánchez