Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of finishing the Belgian Grand Prix on a high note took a nose dive after a lap one collision with Fernando Alonso forced him to retire from the race.
The Silver Arrows had struggled throughout the qualifying session and ended up being 1.8 seconds off the pace.
Despite finishing seventh after the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton started the race 4th behind former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.
The pair collided after Hamilton tried to overtake the Alpine driver on the outside of Les Combes chicane.
Fernando Alonso was left fuming over the team radio in the heat of the incident, and in the process labelled Hamilton an ‘idiot’.
The Alpine driver however was able to finish the race unscathed after the collision. Hamilton after being forced to retire owned up to his mistake after watching footage of the incident.
Martin Brundle, in his F1 column for Sky Sports, examined the Mercedes race in Belgium and said that Alonso’s remarks about his old McLaren teammate were unfair.
“Mercedes just couldn’t switch their tyres on in qualifying but would undoubtedly be better in a warm dry race,” Brundle said.
“Lewis Hamilton didn’t get a chance to find out because of a rare error into the Les Combes chicane when he simply pinched into the side of Fernando Alonso whilst trying to go around the outside, and flying through the air.
“Lewis said he couldn’t see Fernando in his blind spot but frankly he was bound to be there somewhere, and the Spaniard tried his best to stay to the inside and give space,” Brundle explained.
“Lewis saw the footage and immediately put his hand up and correctly accepted full responsibility.”
The former F1 driver acknowledges that Alonso may have made his remarks in a hurry, but he still thought they were inappropriate.
“Fernando’s radio comments, albeit fuelled by anger and adrenaline, about Lewis only being able to win from the front were in my opinion wholly inaccurate and unfair,” Brundle explained.
“Lewis is one of the fairest and cleanest drivers in the history of F1, he hasn’t needed to resort to too many professional fouls given his relentless speed, and just cast your mind back to Brazil last year to remember how he can scythe through the field. Twice.
“That error of judgement will have caught Lewis’s attention…” the F1 pundit pointed out.
