17/09/2007
NEWS STORY
 |
Now that is a master piece of understatement!
Speaking after yesterday's Belgian GP, Lewis Hamilton was less than complimentary towards his teammate, accusing Fernando Alonso of attempting to run him off the road.
After a difficult week, it was hoped that the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit might blow away the stench that has polluted the sport for much of the summer.
However, as the Woking due rounded La Source, in hot pursuit of the Ferraris, it was clear that the rivalry between the two McLaren drivers is as volatile as we'd all assumed, and that at some point it will lead to trouble.
As the two silver, black and red cars rounded the hairpin, Alonso appeared to go straight, thereby forcing his teammate to go wide. As the Spaniard continued to move across on the Englishman the two cars momentarily appeared to lock wheels. Then came the run down to Eau Rouge, with Nico Rosberg tucked in right behind. (above)
F1 held its collective breath as the Woking due appeared to be heading into the legendary curve side-by-side, before Alonso, on a slightly lighter fuel load, pushed ahead of his teammate.
Speaking later, both drivers saw it differently, naturally.
"Felipe locked the front tyre a little bit and was blocking the inside and I had no space, or I had a bad exit from turn one," said the Spaniard. "I think also Lewis went wide at the exit of turn one, so he took a little bit of an advantage run in the tyre mark but yeah, we arrived wheel to wheel into turn three, four but I was lucky to be on the inside and to keep the position there.
Asked about the run to Eau Rouge, he said: "On this occasion I was quite confident and happy with my position into that corner. I was not too worried, I had one lap less fuel than him, so I knew that my car in the first stint should be quick enough."
And did they touch? " No, no," said the World Champion.
"I wouldn't say it was fair. It was hard," said Hamilton. "The guy on the outside doesn't always have the corner; I don't know whether I was ahead, but there was enough room for us all to get round fair and square.
"I just feel, that for someone that's always complaining about people doing unfair manoeuvres and everyone wanting to be fair, someone I look up to, he has gone and swiped me and pushed me as wide as he could. I was just really lucky there was a run-off area.
"We all had equal starts," he continued, "perhaps a little bit better for me than for Fernando. I braked quite late and was on the outside quite close to the Ferraris, and I was just behind Felipe. I started to accelerate and all of a sudden Fernando came sweeping across me, and he knew I was there, so I did the best job I could to get by him down the straight but it wasn't enough.
"At Eau Rouge it's impossible to take two formula one cars through there without taking each other out, so I just lifted."
The English driver's World Championship lead is now down to 2 points, having failed to make it to the podium in two of the last three races.