Hamilton 'would understand' Alonso F1 exit

Lewis Hamilton says he "would understand" if Fernando Alonso were to retire from Formula 1 at the end of 2018. Alonso has been tipped to take a full-time race seat in IndyCar next year, after adding the Le Mans 24 Hours title to the Monaco Grand Prix in his 'Triple Crown' bid.

Alonso now needs to just win the Indianapolis 500 in order to match Graham Hill's unique feat of winning all three legendary races.

The Spaniard had a one-off go at the Brickyard last year, but had to retire amid engine trouble.

Attempts at the 'Triple Crown' have dominated Alonso's thoughts after a return to McLaren has seen him fall out of contention for race wins in F1, with Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel outstripping his achievements built up in his Renault heyday in the middle part of the last decade.

Alonso has routinely hit out at the "predictable" nature of modern F1 and Hamilton, the main beneficiary of Mercedes' dominance in recent years, takes his former McLaren team-mate's point, saying the sport needs to make changes.

"I would understand, for sure," Hamilton told AS when asked about Alonso's potential exit from F1. "I don't feel the sport's been unfair on Fernando.

"Do I feel the sport is not set right? Yes. We've got the big teams and the little teams and it cascades down.

"There's two seconds' difference between the top three teams and then the fourth team. The big teams... Ferrari can earn more money than Mercedes, Ferrari can veto all the rules, no-one else can.

"It'd be cool, and I hope that when they do the new Concorde Agreement that it's better for the young teams so they can have a better platform for younger drivers.

"It shouldn't just be wealthy drivers coming through. It's not just Formula 1; it's all the categories. You've got only rich kids coming through now. It should be people with talent."