Fernando Alonso fumes at Lewis Hamilton in wild Singapore GP radio rant not shown on TV | F1 | Sport
Fernando Alonso launched into a sensational rant after the chequered flag at the Singapore Grand Prix, calling out Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari for driving with a major brake issue. The two-time world champion made up just under a minute relative to the Brit, but crossed the line just four-tenths of a second behind his long-time rival.
Hamilton suffered his issue with a few laps remaining during his battle with Mercedes‘ Kimi Antonelli, and was forced to back off significantly, surrendering a spot to team-mate Charles Leclerc and dropping back into the clutches of eighth-placed Alonso.
However, to avoid hitting the walls of the tight and twisty Marina Bay Street Circuit with his malfunctioning SF-25 machine, Hamilton was forced to get creative with track limits. He cut a number of corners in the closing laps in an attempt to stay in the race, much to the fury of Alonso.
After crossing the line right behind the rear wing of Hamilton’s No.44 Ferrari, Alonso raged on the radio: “F***ing hell mate, I cannot believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. I mean, I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it.
“Is it safe to drive with no brakes? It should be f***ing P7, you cannot drive like you are alone on track. No respect for the red flag yesterday, today, free track for them. Maybe too much.”
When informed that Hamilton would be investigated for track limit violations, he replied: “Five seconds minimum, yeah? For me, you cannot drive when the car is unsafe, you know? Sometimes they tried to disqualify me with no mirror, and now you have no brakes, and everything is fine? I doubt it.”
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The Brit was summoned to the stewards after exiting the cockpit of his Ferrari car and was then hit with a five-second time penalty, dropping him behind Alonso in the final classification.
“During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions,” the FIA stewards confirmed in their penalty report. “He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation.
“This being said, after further investigation, and in accordance with the list of exemptions foreseen in the Driving Standards Guidelines, the Stewards considered that this was not a justifiable reason and apply the usual penalty for such type of infringement. This was not contested by the team representative nor the driver.”
