Alonso makes Rosberg comparison after Hamilton crash

Paul Macdonald
Sunday 28 August 2022 19:35 - Updated: 19:44

Fernando Alonso compared his incident with Lewis Hamilton to one involving the seven-time champion and his then-team-mate Nico Rosberg at Spa Francorchamps in 2014.

Hamilton flew through the air after colliding with the Spaniard at Les Combes on lap one of the Belgian Grand Prix and was forced to retire from the subsequent damage.

Alonso was quick to brand Hamilton "an idiot" via team radio but after finishing fifth and learning that his former McLaren team-mate had accepted responsibility, he changed his tone.

"I think for me it was a little bit of a mistake from his side to close the door like this in turn five," said Alonso. "We have seen many, many times that it goes parallel there.

"It happened the same between him and Rosberg a couple of years ago so this time it was the same thing."

The stewards investigated the incident but ultimately deemed that no penalty was necessary.

Asked if he viewed the coming together as a normal first lap incident, Alonso added: "Yeah, these things happen.

"At that corner especially, there are a lot of things that are going on and people normally cut the corner at six and rejoin the track at seven, so it is a tricky part of the circuit for sure.

"And it was a racing incident, nothing to say, but I'm just sad because when I start P2 or P3, always these things happen and when I'm 12th or 13th, I have a clean race.

"I wanted to have a clean race and unfortunately we started already with this incident and then we had a very aggressive strategy of stopping very early every time.

"I don't think it was the smartest one but in the end, top five, it makes a good weekend for us."