Lewis Hamilton 'blown away' by Fernando Alonso praise

Lewis Hamilton admitted to being "blown away" by a compliment from Fernando Alonso at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ferrari driver Alonso claimed his McLaren rival was "the one who's able to clinch a championship with a car that's not the best".

Hamilton, who has described 2011 as the worst year of his Formula 1 career, said: "I'm blown away Fernando is so positive towards me despite my season.

"It's nice to know I've got support from some drivers."

Alonso and Hamilton became bitter rivals during a turbulent year as McLaren team-mates in 2007.

That resulted in the Spaniard leaving the team after only one season and, since then, it has been understood that the pair have endured an uneasy relationship.

I've only ever said Fernando is one of the best drivers, if not the best driver here.

But that now seems to be changing and, instead, Hamilton has been involved in a number of incidents with Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa this year.

When Alonso's remark was then put to Hamilton, the 26-year-old Englishman was initially lost for words.

After taking a few seconds to reflect on what he had just heard, Hamilton admitted he was taken aback and returned the compliment to Alonso.

"Despite the relationship we've had, I think our friendship and the respect we have for one another has got a lot stronger," stated the 2008 world champion.

Alonso's comment may raise eyebrows given that he himself has consistently proved capable of challenging for race wins and the drivers' championship despite not having the best car.

He famously beat the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Massa to win the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix in a Renault.

Alonso then produced a stunning drive for Ferrari to overcome Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel at Singapore in 2010, and was in contention for the title until the final race of the year.

This time round he is third in the standings ahead of Hamilton and Red Bull's Mark Webber, both of whom have quicker cars.

But the 30-year-old still believes Hamilton, who has endured a difficult year on and off the track, is the man with the most raw talent.

"Hamilton did not have a super season this year, who knows whether it was due to the Pirelli tyres or the fact that with blown diffusers now driving has changed," he explained.

"On top of that, [Hamilton's team-mate Jenson] Button is having a great year. All of this concurred to give the impression that his season hasn't been so good.

"But let's consider India, when he took second place in qualifying. It's like soccer: if Real Madrid or Barcelona are not performing particularly well on a given season, that does not mean that they're not top league.

"In fact, at the next winter testing he [Hamilton] will be the only one I'll be watching closely. The other guys can win if they've got the best car; he's the one who's able to clinch a championship with a car that's not the best."

Interesting read and great comments from both drivers. There's mutual respect there, clearly. Not sure some will be happy with Fernadno's statements as the matador is praising the second coming of Senna

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15701489.stm

very nice comments from Alonso. You do get the feeling that he and Hamilton have shared some similar frustration this year, though Alonso has coped better. It's good to see the mutual respect between the two which has evolved after what can only be called a fractious first season.

Belgarion of Riva wrote:"Hamilton did not have a super season this year, who knows whether it was due to the Pirelli tyres.

I can't say Alonso has had a great season either. Everyone knows Hamilton & Alonso along with Kubica are the fastest, most exciting and aggressive drivers on the grid. Alonso & Hamilton have huge respect for each other and this praise just emphasises how much of a threat Lewis is to Fernando. Do you seriously think Fernando would ever publicly state that Webber or Jenson were a 'threat'......You must be joking. On a level playing field, without 'enhanced' tyre conservation which makes Button ultra-competitive, it would be these two dominating the sport, however the fact is Formula 1 isnt about 'pure speed' or 'racing ability' anymore. The sport has always been about the 'machinery', but now with 'conservation' of both fuel & tyres being a more fundamental importance to success, it has led to drivers such as Hamilton, Alonso & Webber performing way below there usual high standards of performance.

So in evaluation what Fernando has said in theory is correct in relation to Lewis' ability and his 'potential threat' to his future WDC aspirations. However, Lewis will never be able to showcase his speed and race craft consistantly in this current 'era' of F1, without considerably altering his driving style and aggressiveness to suit the current ways of the sport. Alonso's threats in 'reality' are of course Vettel, due to the RB's ability but also Jenson (which pains me to say).

You see all Nando haters. Alonso is good atleast he makes frank statements.
Well done Hammy for practice and now produce the same form tomorrow and on Sunday.

Recently ive gained alot more respect for Alonso and this praise towards Lewis has been a nice touch.

I hope they can put their confrontations behind them and move on. Its clear they've both got a lot or respect for eachother and hope the only fighting they will be doing is on the track :-D

I wonder if they ever became team mates again, how that will turn out

wow wrote:You see all Nando haters. Alonso is good atleast he makes frank statements.
Well done Hammy for practice and now produce the same form tomorrow and on Sunday.

I wish the Hammy haters would be as gracious as Fernando. Wow, you posted a comment in an article comparing Hamilton to some average drivers. Now that your idol has come out with this comment, do you take the average comment back?

here here....

It is good to see that despite all that is badly said about Mr Alonso, he has proved that he has nothing against Mr Hamilton. He has earned my respect! I would love to see the two of them in a very competitive car in 2012.

I agree Sporty. They both showed enormous respect to eachother today. Giving eachother the thumbs up on the cool down lap. Running in formation too.

Then the handshake etc in the winners room after the races. Glad to see they're both putting things behind them - it was 4 years ago after all (sheeesh has it been that long!!!)

Honestly i don't think there was ever an actual problem just two competitive drivers wanting to win just the media making more of it as usual

fernando wrote:Honestly i don't think there was ever an actual problem just two competitive drivers wanting to win just the media making more of it as usual

I think Fernando's problem was more to do with feeling as though he wasn't getting the same support from the team that they gave to Hamilton. Of course, there was the qualifying incident in Hungary, but I guess Nando's a big enough guy not to hold a grudge over something like that.

It was also nice to see Hamilton returning the compliment during the post-race interview.

John wrote:

Belgarion of Riva wrote:"Hamilton did not have a super season this year, who knows whether it was due to the Pirelli tyres.

I can't say Alonso has had a great season either. Everyone knows Hamilton & Alonso along with Kubica are the fastest, most exciting and aggressive drivers on the grid. Alonso & Hamilton have huge respect for each other and this praise just emphasises how much of a threat Lewis is to Fernando. Do you seriously think Fernando would ever publicly state that Webber or Jenson were a 'threat'......You must be joking. On a level playing field, without 'enhanced' tyre conservation which makes Button ultra-competitive, it would be these two dominating the sport, however the fact is Formula 1 isnt about 'pure speed' or 'racing ability' anymore. The sport has always been about the 'machinery', but now with 'conservation' of both fuel & tyres being a more fundamental importance to success, it has led to drivers such as Hamilton, Alonso & Webber performing way below there usual high standards of performance.

So in evaluation what Fernando has said in theory is correct in relation to Lewis' ability and his 'potential threat' to his future WDC aspirations. However, Lewis will never be able to showcase his speed and race craft consistantly in this current 'era' of F1, without considerably altering his driving style and aggressiveness to suit the current ways of the sport. Alonso's threats in 'reality' are of course Vettel, due to the RB's ability but also Jenson (which pains me to say).

Did you notice something during the weekend, john?

Namely that after Vettel went off and Hamilton took the lead, he didn't streak off and try to build a big lead over Alonso. Now you could say that was because he didn't have that much of a performance advantage, but its uncanny how he maintained a gap of approx. 3 seconds during the first phase of the race, fairly consistently, lap after lap.

Alonso did his best, pushed as hard as he could and got to within about 1.5 seconds on occasions, but Hamilton always seemed to have enough to keep him from being able to use DRS.

I like to think Hamilton took a leaf out of Button's manual and simply looked after his car up to the first pit stop. Whether he'd have done that anyway had Vettel not gone off, we don't know, but it was nice to see Lewis apparently using his head and not driving any harder than he needed to.

Put it this way, he COULD have tried to pull out a big lead over Alonso and trashed his tyres in the process...but he didn't. Instead he did just enough to ensure that Alonso didn't get the undercut at the pit stops.


One more thing:

F1 has NEVER been about "pure speed and racing ability", as you put it.

F1 has ALWAYS been about the best combination of driver and car. Don't believe me? Then look up the records and find out which year McLaren strolled the championship with the only turbo-engined car on the grid. Or the year Williams utterly dominated when their car was the only with with active suspension and various other electronic trickery.

If Vettel had not received that puncture, Hamilton's race would of been dramatically different. Hamilton would of pushed and tried to force Vettel into a mistake in the early stages, damaging his tyres in the process just what he's done all season when in second place. This would of allowed Alonso to get right up on Hamilton and eventually either pass or do the undercut. I think Hamilton's tyre conserving approach worked this weekend as Abu Dhabi is one of the least abrasive tracks on the calender. I still think Hamilton will struggle with the pirelli's and Vettel would of easily have strolled to victory as Hamilton knew he couldnt push and hurt his tyres as Alonso would of capitilised in the end.

I dont need to look up the records, I've been watchin F1 over 25 years