Lewis Hamilton crashes Alonso interview with touch of class in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso embraced after their tussle at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, and the moment was caught on camera – which fans of the sport lapped up.

Alonso engaged in an entteraining battle with his old rival, with the Spaniard emerging vicotrious. Inevitably, the 41-year-old was able to get past the Mercedes and pushed on to finish in third place. To Hamilton’s credit, despite losing the battle, the seven-time world champion didn’t give up without a fight.

He forced his former McLaren team-mate to work hard to make the overtake stick and moved back past the first time – only conceding the position after Alonso’s overtook him for a second time. Post-race, while the Spaniard was speaking to DAZN España, the Mercedes driver sought out Alonso to congratulate him on a superb drive.

Hamilton pointed out that the Aston Martin man deserved all the praise in the world after finishing third place in the opening race of the 2023 season. Alonso was in his element as he charged around the Bahrain International Circuit picking off both Mercedes drivers and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

The fire burns as bright as it ever has for the oldest man on the F1 grid and he’s only just getting started. “To finish on the podium first race of the year is just amazing,” Alonso said as he discussed the achievement after the race.

“What Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second best car on race one is just unreal. Obviously I would love to start in front of [the Red Bulls and Ferraris] and use our pace, but we had not the best start and had to pass on track.

“It felt a little bit more exciting and more adrenaline for sure, so hopefully people enjoyed it. We did enjoy it as well, so let’s enjoy it together.” Hamilton meanwhile, battled to a fifth place finish and after a hard-fought race he told Sky Sports F1 that he will request immediate upgrades to ensure that the gap to their rivals doesn’t increase.

“We definitely can’t fight Ferrari at the moment,” Hamilton said. “They were much quicker than us today, as were the Astons.

“We’re the fourth fastest team. We are going backwards, we have a lot of work to do to close that gap. Unfortunately the car is not there at the moment,” Hamilton added.

“We are just lacking downforce and we have got to work really hard to add that ASAP. Anything from in the wind tunnel, we need it tomorrow. We have really got to push massively to try and close that gap.”