Alonso furious with Hamilton after Canadian Grand Prix
The Spanish driver did not appreciate the British driver's behavior at the end of the race. The two-time world champion criticized Hamilton for not respecting the rule concerning the gap between each car under the safety car regime.
Fernando Alonso was particularly frustrated after crossing the finish line. Despite his seventh place, marking a second consecutive points finish after his 9th place in Spain, the Spaniard criticized Lewis Hamilton’s behavior. As the Grand Prix ended under a safety car following Lando Norris’s retirement, the Aston Martin driver complained that his former teammate at McLaren did not stay close enough to the cars ahead of him.
The double world champion, seventh at that moment, wanted to take advantage of potential penalties related to infractions at the end of the race to recover certain positions, notably concerning Charles Leclerc. However, when the safety car returned to the pits on the last lap, as required by the regulations, and all cars crossed the finish line, Hamilton and Alonso were more than 7 seconds behind the Monegasque and therefore could not have capitalized on a possible 5-second penalty for the Ferrari driver.
Alonso accuses Hamilton of slowing down too much during the safety car.
A situation that Alonso did not appreciate at all. « Hamilton missed the lesson of staying close to the car in front », observed the Spaniard before his engineer Chris Conin responded: « Yes, it was annoying. »
Despite everything, Hamilton is not responsible for this misunderstanding between the two world champions. Even though the Briton could have been closer to the car in front of him, Alonso was anyway unable to be within five seconds of Leclerc. In total, seven lapped cars were between the two Ferrari drivers: Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar, and Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, who were all a lap down.
The Aston Martin driver still took the opportunity to criticize the pace set by Hamilton during the final laps. Among all the cars in line, from Leclerc to Alonso, only one driver was closer to the car in front of him than Alonso (Gasly who crossed the finish line 0.071 seconds after Bortoleto), and only one driver was further away than Hamilton (Tsunoda who finished 1.739 seconds behind Oliver Bearman’s Haas).
A driver more in tune with his car
Despite his frustration, the former Ferrari driver delivered another solid race. Although his season start was the most difficult he has experienced since the beginning of his career (eight first races without scoring points), the trend has reversed over the past several rounds. The Spaniard seems more confident with the car, particularly in the qualifying sessions (four consecutive Q3 appearances). This is good news for a team that needs to collect points, as they currently sit in eighth place in the constructors’ standings with only 22 points.
If the Bull of Asturias regains confidence at the wheel, Aston Martin could have a more prolific second half of the season, often criticized for struggling to develop a car throughout the year. The Austrian Grand Prix next week will indicate whether or not Aston Martin has made progress. If so, it will undoubtedly be one of the teams to watch, both this season and in 2026, the year of the new regulations and the first Aston Martin designed by Adrian Newey.
