“I don’t agree”– Charles Leclerc bulldust Fernando Alonso’s words discrediting Lewis Hamilton of his heroics in Brazil

Charles Leclerc bites back on Fernando Alonso’s comments stating Mercedes has a bigger basket to score than the rest of the grid.

Lewis Hamilton sensationally won the Sao Paulo Grand Pix this weekend. After all the setbacks, the Briton rose from P20 in the sprint race on Saturday to eventually win the main race on Sunday after starting from the 5th row.

However, Fernando Alonso wasn’t much impressed with it at the end of the day. He pointed out structural problems of F1, as according to him, Hamilton’s astronomical rise throughout the weekend exposed the deficit between the teams.

“As a driver, it’s like playing basketball and there’s one basket for you and one for the others,” Alonso said. “They (Mercedes) score their points with a bigger basket and you have to score yours with a smaller one. So you always lose.”

He added: “I just imagine young children watching this sport and seeing one car pass two others in the straight line. We shouldn’t let them lose hope that they can be champions.”

Fernando Alonso reacts on the fact Hamilton finished 5th today#BrazilGP🇧🇷 #F1 @AlpineF1Team@alo_oficial
pic.twitter.com/UtPJieNPar

— F1 Out Of context (@nocontextf1_) November 13, 2021

Also read: Mercedes engineering director says that they are confident they can win both Championships in 2021

Charles Leclerc disagrees

However, Leclerc disregards Alonso’s opinion and claims the credit shall be with the reigning world champion to get the most out of that Mercedes car.

“I don’t agree,” Leclerc said. “Obviously Lewis has a very strong car at the moment, but I think he managed to go beyond what that car could give.”

Leclerc was genuinely amazed by the pace shown by Hamilton this weekend. After Briton’s sprint race performance, Leclerc suggested that the revers-grid concept be adopted to make F1 more interesting.

A validation by one of the prominent members of the grid towards an idea which so far has been opined as “too radical” for F1. Even the Monegasque race driver’s boss Mattia Binotto feels the same.

Also read: Mercedes trackside engineer reveals the secret behind emphatic win of Lewis Hamilton in Brazil

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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