Fernando Alonso apologized to Lewis Hamilton for the “heat of the moment” remarks he made over the radio during last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The two former world champions collided on the first lap, which sent Hamilton’s car in the air and forced the Mercedes driver to exit the race early. Alonso could be heard over the team radio, which was broadcasted, saying, “What an idiot! Closing the door from the outside. We had a great start, but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”
Hamilton later took the blame for the incident.
Alonso said ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend that his Spa remarks were an instant reaction to his race engineer. However, he did add that he felt it was blown out of proportion.
“It made a huge thing,” Alonso. “First of all, it’s Lewis, he’s a champion, he’s a legend of our time. And then when you say something, and I’m sorry to repeat this, against a British driver, there is a huge media involvement after that.
“They’ve been saying a lot of things to Checo [Perez], to Carlos [Sainz], to me. If you say something to a Latin driver, everything is a little bit more fun. When you say something to others, it’s a little bit more serious, but anyway, yes I apologize.”
The Alpine driver later added that he does not stand by his comment of “this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”
“No, no, no, I don’t believe [that]. I mean, it’s not that I believe or don’t believe, there are facts that it is not that way. So it’s something that you say in the heat of the moment. But as I said, nothing that I said is true, or there are facts that are completely the opposite. So I have huge respect.”
Alonso does plan to apologize to Hamilton in person, and the two did meet up soon after the press conferences.
“The heat of the moment and the adrenaline of the moment, fighting for finally top two, top three, made me say those comments that I should not say,” he said about the radio moment. “But at the same time, as I said also after the race, I said that it was a race incident in my opinion.
“When you say something on the radio, in that moment, you think that you are talking with your engineer, so you are preparing the strategy...Obviously, you should be aware that is broadcast. But it’s like if someone makes a hard tackle or something in football. In that moment you say something to your teammate or whatever, and in that moment, it’s not broadcasted..”
