Every year Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s rivalry gets heated, and it will remain like this until either of them leaves the grid. Recently Alonso took a jibe at Hamilton when he said the Briton has some “weaknesses”.
“With a normal car you can see that he has weaknesses,” said Alonso. He then compared Hamilton‘s head-to-head tally with the other Mercedes driver George Russell, who is managing to have the edge over the seven-time world champion over the last two seasons.
Alonso further added that this shows how much difference a car can make. Though it’s true, his statements also seem condescending towards Hamilton’s achievements. But an old video resurfaced online of Alonso contradicts his 2023 claim.
Fernando Alonso praised Lewis Hamilton for extracting performances
Back when Alonso was vying against Sebastian Vettel for the championships, he once claimed the then Red Bull star isn’t at par with Hamilton. At that time, Vettel had more title count than the Briton, so Alonso was asked why he felt so.
“In those years [as teammates], I saw Lewis winning races with not maybe the best cars. Doing amazing performances when sometimes he did not have a competitive car in hand. These things at the moment we don’t see with Sebastian,” said Alonso.
I wish Alonso remembered saying this… 🤡 pic.twitter.com/KQPR3VNcqE
— Monika (@mona_bart44) March 31, 2023
So, what changed Alonso‘s opinion over the span of a decade? Maybe Hamilton achieving everything with Mercedes in a similar fashion could have changed the Spaniard’s opinion. That can only be a guess. Only Alonso can clarify his opposing stances.
Fancy reuniting with old teammate
Hamilton started his career as Alonso’s teammate, and things between the two became so ugly that the aftershocks of the relationship are still felt. However, the Spaniard rather blames McLaren for the divide between the two drivers.
When asked if he would want to end his career as Hamilton’s teammate Alonso replied in the affirmative. He even said he would love doing it. The Aston Martin star also adds that much of the things from the past would be avoided now, as they have matured a lot.
Surely, a partnership between Alonso and Hamilton would be a highly marketable entity for F1. But considering their paths, it seems unlikely that it’ll happen.
