“Lewis came into Formula 1 like a tsunami”– Fernando Alonso opens about his rivalry with Lewis Hamilton and what went wrong between them

Tanish Chachra | 16/08/2021
"Lewis came into Formula 1 like a tsunami"– Fernando Alonso opens about his rivalry with Lewis Hamilton and what went wrong between them

“Lewis came into Formula 1 like a tsunami”– Fernando Alonso talks about his competition with Lewis hamilton and how it became toxic.

Lewis Hamilton had a sensational breakthrough in Formula 1, where he spectacularly overtook the two-time world champions and his back then teammate at McLaren Fernando Alonso at the turn 1.

The Briton in that race went on to bag a P3, behind Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso, but it was a perfect start for the rookie, and recalling those days, Alonso claims Hamilton came in F1 like a Tsunami.

“Lewis came into Formula 1 like a tsunami,” says Alonso. “With all his talent, all his ability and immediately good results. That was intense and that was also challenging for everyone.”

“Looking back, and I think Lewis will feel the same, there were no problems between us. We had a very tough competition, but fair.”

Not an individual, but the management spoiled the situation

Looking back, Alonso doesn’t blame Hamilton for all the conflicts raised between them, which were also reflected on the track. The Spaniard also avoids naming Ron Dennis, who led the group back then and eventually blamed the whole management for the messy affair.

“I don’t want to blame Ron (Dennis), I don’t want to blame a particular name, but as a team and management we were too young, we were too ambitious and nobody guided us in a certain way.”

“Frankly, I think, and probably Lewis agrees, that the team didn’t handle the situation well,” he concluded. The F1 fans reminisced the old rivalry days of Alonso and Hamilton in Hungary, where the 40-year-old had an epic battle against Hamilton for almost 10 laps.

The battle was essential for Alpine, as Alonso’s teammate was front-running the race, and Hamilton’s delay in overtaking Alonso sealed the Enstone-based team’s victory.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Alpine Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes

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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