Double World Champion Fernando Alonso praised seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton after the Australian Grand Prix, with the Spaniard having been unable to overtake the Mercedes driver for second at the Albert Park Circuit.
Hamilton and Alonso sat in second and third for the vast majority of the race, with the gap between them having sat between 1.2-1.5 seconds.
The former team-mates both kept responding to each other’s pace throughout the race, with Hamilton having ultimately done enough to fend off the Aston Martin driver.
Hamilton was incredibly determined to beat his former McLaren team-mate, with the Mercedes driver having at one point in the race asked race engineer Peter Bonnington (Bono) for an update on Alonso’s pace.
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“Gap at 1.2 to Alonso,” Bono told Hamilton.
“Alonso 21.7,” he added.
“Know where I’m losing to him?” Hamilton asked
“OK Lewis, standby,” Bono replied.
“Lot of vibration on the front tyres,” informed Hamilton.
“Copy Lewis, it’s something on the rear axle, I’ll let you know,” said Bono.
Hamilton and Alonso both chatted after the race and could be seen smiling, with the Spaniard having even explained in the post-race press conference how Hamilton only made one mistake all race.
“In terms of pace, we were very close to Lewis, also through the race – but every time that I tried to get close, yes he seemed to pick up the pace,” Alonso said during the post-race press conference.
“I tried to put some pressure but he had an incredible race, no mistakes at all, as you probably expect from him, a champion. But only one lock-up, I think, Turn 13, in 58 laps. So I was trying to put pressure but nothing happened. So yeah, I will take P3.”
It was, of course, Alonso’s third consecutive third place finish this season, continuing Aston Martin’s run of claiming a rostrum at every round so far this campaign.
The way he spoke about Hamilton in the post-race press conference was certainly different to the manner in which he did ahead of the weekend in Melbourne, where Alonso responded to a comment made by the 38-year-old.
Hamilton labelled Red Bull’s RB19 as the “fastest car” he’s ever seen in F1 after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, a statement Alonso completely disagreed with.
The 41-year-old even explained how Hamilton’s previously dominant cars have played a huge part in him being the record-holder for most wins and most pole positions in the sport, something Alonso believes is proven by the fact that George Russell has out-qualified him at every round this year.
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“[In Saudi Arabia] I finished 20 seconds behind Checo and Max [Verstappen],” Alonso said ahead of the Australian GP, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
“He and [Nico] Rosberg were a minute ahead in 2014 and 2015… He has a short memory, he’s getting old!”
Alonso also went on to say: “With a normal car, you can see that he has weaknesses. Before, he drove alone or sometimes with his team-mate. But look, he is the record holder for poles and George Russell has just given him a 2-0 in qualifying this season. It just goes to show how much the car is still a key factor…”