Formula One: Lewis Hamilton snubs Fernando Alonso in Belgium Grand Prix crash apology
Lewis Hamilton has apologised to his team and fans – but not the man whose car he crashed into at the Belgian Grand Prix.
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Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso eased off to avoid a prolonged war of words on Monday following their acrimonious collision in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion and his one-time McLaren teammate crashed on the opening lap with Hamilton forced to retire after an airborne ride over his rival’s Alpine car.
In the heat of the moment the veteran Spaniard blasted the British driver as “an idiot”.
Hamilton revisited the incident on social media, writing: “First I want to apologise to my fans and especially those who came out to support me.
“After almost 30 years of racing, the feeling left from a mistake cuts just as deep as the first.
“My team, who work so hard, deserved more.”
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Alonso, 41, was also more composed in his comments after the race and distanced himself from the impact of his original outburst on team radio when he said: “What an idiot! Closing the door from the outside.
“I mean, we had a mega-start, but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.” Hamilton accepted full blame for the collision but was clearly put out by Alonso’s initial fury.
He suggested he had intended to speak to the Spaniard until he “heard what he said. I know that’s how things feel in the heat of the moment, but it’s nice to know how he feels about me”.
Alonso admitted “I was angry”, adding: “The radio, anyway, when you talk, you talk to your engineer and to your team.
“It’s a shame that sometimes everything is broadcasted, because if it’s broadcasted, it is what you say now (in the moment), this (right now) is how you behave in the media.
“When you’re talking on the radio, it’s only a comment to your team, normally.” “I was frustrated there, for sure,” he continued.
“Every time we started in the first couple of rows of the grid there is something going on, unfortunately, and I felt that way.
Alonso waving to Hamilton after the crash pic.twitter.com/mBJv2JhhmQ
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“But, you know, it was a normal incident, and unfortunately Lewis had to retire the car after the incident.” Alonso was seen wagging a finger at Hamilton on lap two before he settled down and finished fifth in the race.
The two have had a colourful history since being teammates at McLaren in 2007, Hamilton’s rookie season, when they fell out. Alonso left the team after one year of a three-year contract.
The crash capped a disappointing weekend for the 37-year-old Hamilton who had qualified 1.8 seconds adrift of pacesetting world champion Max Verstappen who won the race from 14th on the grid, after taking a penalty, for Red Bull.
“We’re not where we want to be,” the British driver, still searching for his first win of the season, said.
“But we won’t stop pushing until we get to where we know where we belong. Sometimes this is life, it happens, but it’s not how we fall, it’s how we get up.
“I will be working as hard as I can to come back stronger.” Alonso meanwhile also enjoyed poking fun at Ferrari, with whom he experienced strategy errors, notably when bidding to win his third drivers’ title in 2010.
Asked about the Italian team’s curious strategy in Belgium, which saw Charles Leclerc finish sixth, he said he was not surprised.
“No, not so much. Ferrari has been doing strange things — and that was just another strange thing.”
‘IT JUST HAPPENED’: HAMILTON EXPLAINS WHAT WENT WRONG
Hamilton said he did not see Alonso who was in his blind spot, as he attempted to complete a passing move at Les Combes.
His Mercedes car’s front right wheel hit the Alpine’s front left, causing it to rise and then fall violently. The pair were unhurt and continued.
Moments later, however, he slowed to a halt in the middle of the track with his team telling him: “Stop, stop, stop”, bringing to an end his run of five podiums and a perfect record of race finishes this season.
“It’s definitely my fault,” said Hamilton.
“I didn’t see him. I’ve apologised. He was in my blind spot. So it’s unfortunate … I mean, it’s motor racing, I gave it everything.
“I tried to overtake on the outside into turn five. Just didn’t leave quite enough space and I paid the price for it. It wasn’t intentional. It just happened.”
An angry Alonso ranted on Alpine team radio at the time: “What an idiot. He closed the door from the outside. I mean, we had a mega-start but this guy only knows how to drive starting first.”
Alonso was more restrained after the race and said he was happy to hear of Hamilton’s explanation and acceptance of the blame.
“I think he thought that I wasn’t there anymore,” said Alonso. “So I don’t think that it’s a mistake – it’s just that in the heat of the moment you try to take the slipstream, brake late and turn in.
“Sometimes, you don’t measure the cars completely, where everybody is, but I don’t know … I normally take more care.
“It was his mistake to close the door like that.”
Alonso added that Les Combes was a notably tricky corner.
“We have seen that many, many times here. It happened to him with (Nico) Rosberg a few years ago, so this time it is the same thing.”
He said he agreed with the stewards’ decision not to penalise Hamilton. “It was a first lap incident,” he said. “These things happen. In that corner, especially, there are a lot of things that are going on.
“People normally cut the corner in (turn) six and re-join the track in seven. “So it’s a tricky part of the circuit for sure. It was a racing incident and there’s nothing more to say.”
After learning of Alonso’s choice words on the radio, Hamilton said: “I know how things go in the heat of the moment, but it is nice to know how he feels about me, and it is better that it is out in the open about how he feels.
“I nearly broke my back coming down. I am grateful to still be alive and in shape. I am sure I will feel sore tomorrow.
“The incident wasn’t intentional. I take responsibility for it. That is what adults do. We move on.”
Shortly after, Nicholas Latifi (Williams) took out the Alfa Romeo of Hamilton’s old Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas as up ahead Max Verstappen swept away his rivals to head a Red Bull 1-2
ALPINE F1 CHIEF SAYS PIASTRI LACKS ‘INTEGRITY’ IN CONTRACT ROW
Alpine team chief Otmar Szafnauer has accused the team’s reserve driver Oscar Piastri of lacking “integrity” as a row over his future continued to dominate paddock gossip at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Piastri, a 21-year-old Australian who has won the Formula Three and Two titles in successive seasons en route to a F1 career, is at the centre of a contract dispute involving Alpine as he seeks to break free.
Alpine claim that Piastri, managed by compatriot and former F1 driver Mark Webber, signed a contract with them for 2023, which he has rejected as he bids to move elsewhere.
He is heavily linked with a switch to McLaren to replace fellow-Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who on Wednesday announced he had agreed to leave the team at the end of this season.
“My wish for Oscar was that he had a bit more integrity,” Szafnauer said.
“He signed a bit of paper back in November and we’ve done everything on our end of the bargain to prepare him for F1 and his end of that was to either drive for us or take a seat where we would place him for the next three years.”
The dispute began in the wake of Aston Martin’s recruitment of two-time champion Fernando Alonso from Alpine to succeed retirement-bound four-time champion Sebastian Vettel next season.
On discovering that Alonso intended to leave, Alpine announced they were promoting Piastri, but he countered by saying he had not signed a contract and would not be with the team in 2023.
The situation is due to be assessed and reviewed next week by the International Motoring Federation (FIA) contract recognition board.
Szafnauer on Friday also responded to suggestions that Ricciardo might make a return to Alpine next year, having spent two years with the team when they were named Renault.
“We haven’t had any discussions yet, but everybody speaks highly of him from his time with the team,” said Scafnauer.
His comments came 24 hours after Alonso had dismissed claims that he, his manager Flavio Briatore, formerly team boss of Renault, and Webber, who was managed by Briatore during his racing career, had colluded to disrupt Alpine’s plans.
Alonso said he had read news media reports.
“Honestly, it was quite sad and annoying to read about that conspiracy because I made this decision,” he said.
“For some months, I had been chatting with the team about extending the contract (with Alpine), but nothing officially arrived and nothing officially happened, and Aston called me after Sebastian retired.
“If Sebastian had continued, this would probably not have happened, the move to Aston. There were very clear and very easy decisions from my side, and what happened after and what is happening with Oscar, is completely not my thing.”
Briatore left Formula One after a colourful career when he resigned as Renault team chief following the ‘crashgate’ scandal associated with the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Thirty-one years ago, following the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, Briatore persuaded new boy Michael Schumacher to join his Benetton team after he had made his debut with Jordan.
Schumacher raced at the Italian Grand Prix for Benetton and went on to win two drivers titles with them before claiming a further five with Ferrari.
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