When Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso meet on the track, it always brings back memories of the old rivalry. This year, both champions had comparably high-quality technique, so we were able to enjoy some interesting fights between them. Both of them faced each other again in Abu Dhabi, and Alonso tried to outsmart his rival this time as well.
Their fight took place in the 37th round. Alonso, aware of the deficit of his Aston Martin on the straights, tried to get out of the way before the fifth corner, let Hamilton in front of him and, with the help of DRS, regain the position. Even though Fernando was almost completely off the track, he came to the attention of the marshals, who treated his driving as a possible unpredictable behavior on the track.
It didn’t work out for Alonso and Hamilton overtook him with the help of DRS, but in the next lap he was able to return the attack to the Mercedes pilot and finally beat him. He was also pardoned by the commissioners, although Lewis was not at all happy with the behavior of his opponent. “It slows me down. He braked me far before the braking point,” he reported unsatisfied Hamilton to the radio.
The Alonsos after the race, they gave journalists the opportunity to comment on the whole matter. He responded in his typical style. “Lewis is very smart, he understands the sport very well and he has a lot of experience, but I have more!” declared Fernando, who was then asked if he was surprised by Hamilton’s comments.
“Yes and no at the same time. The exact same thing happened in Canada in 2013 (you can find the video here, note ed.). Ten years after this episode, one of us again tried to provide DRS to the opponent and brake early into the corner. I won in the end, so everything is fine.” he grinned Alonso.
He also got the opportunity to react Lewis Hamiltonwho insisted and in his opinion the actions of the Aston Martin driver were not adequate. “We were on the straight some 300 or 400 meters before the turn. I was driving at a speed of 290 kilometers per hour and out of nowhere the guy suddenly slowed down.” declared the Mercedes pilot.
The Spanish matador was not satisfied with the pace of his single-seater, despite a good performance that ended up finishing fourth overall in the championship, which was said to be suffering from considerable tire degradation. “We need better speed to overtake. We were a bit slow on the straights, which has been our weakness throughout the season.” he says Alonso.
“We changed shoes for the first time around the sixteenth lap and from that moment it was a long race. In the end, our pace was only enough to fight for seventh or eighth place. As I said after qualifying, my lap was very good, but race speed seemed to be problematic. We finally saw it. In the end, it was enough to defeat the AlphaTauri, but that’s not enough,” he added Alonso.
2023-11-26 19:11:04
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