Lewis Hamilton news: champion aims SAVAGE victory dig at Fernando Alonso

Alonso, Hamilton, podium, 2023 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Off The Track

Hamilton aims SAVAGE victory dig at Alonso

The seven-time champion was in a playful mood

Rhys Thomas

Saturday 17 August 2024 19:58

Lewis Hamilton has aimed a cheeky jab at fellow Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso.

The pair have a complicated history stemming back to Hamilton's rookie year when he partnered reigning champion Alonso at McLaren.

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The pair had several flashpoints on their way to finishing equal second in the championship, and ever since, appear to have harboured some underlying tensions mixed in with their mutual respect.

The duo are no strangers to taking a cheap shot at one another, and Hamilton has jokingly offered another punch in that department.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had a strained relationship at McLaren

There is mutual respect between the two world champions

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Despite multiple agonisingly close calls, Alonso has failed to win another championship since sharing a team with Hamilton, whilst the Brit has gone on to become the most successful driver in the history of the sport.

Alonso endured a lengthy podium drought after leaving Ferrari for a return to McLaren ahead of the 2015 season, but picked up one with Alpine in 2021.

In 2023, he scored eight more with Aston Martin to take him past the 100 podium landmark, though 2024 has been a far more difficult year for the team and the Spaniard, something Hamilton pointed to.

The Mercedes driver, who recently returned to winning ways in Great Britain and Belgium, made the joke in a rare appearance in the latest instalment of F1's Grill the Grid challenge.

Lewis Hamilton aimed a joke at Fernando Alonso during Grill the Grid

The drivers were tasked with spotting the mistake in a series of F1-related photos, and when a picture of Alonso erroneously holding the Silverstone winner's trophy in an Aston Martin suit appeared, Hamilton could not resist delivering a jibe.

Asked what was wrong with the image, he joked: "Just him standing on the podium!”, seeming to reference Alonso's recent lack of top-three finishes.

The Spaniard has two British Grand Prix victories to his name- 2006 and 2011. Hamilton was not technically wrong with his statement, however as Alonso has only finished 7th and 8th in his two Silverstone races with Aston Martin.

This is surely not the last of the friendly mocking between these two veterans, although Alonso was unable to fire any shots back at Hamilton given he did not appear in this iteration of the series.

Red Bull Lewis Hamilton McLaren Formula 1 Aston Martin Sergio Perez