Fernando Alonso pinpoints 'phenomenal' Aston Martin strength after rare F1 duels

Fernando Alonso believes the performance of his Aston Martin chassis in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was "phenomenal" as it allowed him to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes cars.

Alonso was able to secure Aston Martin's best grid position of the season in the dreadfully wet qualifying session at Interlagos, lining up in eighth place, and looked set to challenge for much-needed points for the team, which has endured a tricky season.

However, Alonso eventually took the flag in 12th place, outside of the points, with the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen all passing him during the 71-lap race, which was run on intermediate tyres at the start and end before around 50 laps on dry, slick tyres.

The Achilles' Heel of the Aston Martin package has been the Honda engine, which is struggling for not only pure power, but also drivability - something key to extracting a good result in wet conditions.

During the spells of the race on the intermediate tyres, Alonso duelled with old rival Hamilton, passing him around the outside on pure pace as the Ferrari sank back down the order after its lightning-fast start.

Reflecting, Alonso felt that taking into account the lack of top-end speed, the car's performance at Interlagos was "phenomenal."

"It was better in the rain for sure, better than the dry," Alonso explained to media, including RacingNews365.

"But all in all, I think the pace was quite okay, and it was a good surprise; the car was performing well throughout the race.

"Obviously, we're still missing a lot of straight-line speed, and that is difficult to compensate for, but at one point, we were in a fight with the Ferraris at the beginning, and even at the end with the Mercedes.

"So taking that into account, we lose a lot on the straights, and that means the car was phenomenal in the corners, so it was a nice feeling.

"It was a better race than weekend; in Free Practice, we were not super happy with the car, but in the race, it hit a better window, so let's see what we can do in the next three."

Alonso was then asked if the performance was simply track- and condition-specific, to which he replied: "There's nothing to learn about the car. 

"We are in race 21 now, so we know exactly what we need to improve."