Fernando Alonso's scathing radio comments on Lewis Hamilton in last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix were expressed in the heat-of-the-moment, but they were "wholly inaccurate and unfair" says Martin Brundle.
Hamiton and Alonso came together on the opening lap of the race when the Mercedes driver made a move on the outside of the Spaniard as they veered into Les Combes.
Hamilton misjudged the overtake and clipped the Alpine drivers' left front wheel, which pitched the Mercedes into the air.
While Alonso was able to continue his race without any issues, Hamilton was ordered to park his car a little further down the road, as the aftermath of the contact appeared to have damaged the Mercedes' power unit.
Alonso was left fuming after the incident and immediately radioed his team and said: "What an idiot! Closed the door from the outside. I mean, we had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive starting first."
Hamilton later owned up to his botched maneuver, admitting to the mistake and not leaving Alonso enough space although he refused to apologize to his rival, having been informed of the Spaniard's rancorous 'idiot' rant.
"Lewis said he couldn’t see Fernando in his blind spot but frankly he was bound to be there somewhere, and the Spaniard tried his best to stay to the inside and give space," wrote Brundle in his post-race column for Sky Sports.
"Lewis saw the footage and immediately put his hand up and correctly accepted full responsibility.
"Fernando’s radio comments, albeit fueled by anger and adrenaline, about Lewis only being able to win from the front were in my opinion wholly inaccurate and unfair.
"Lewis is one of the fairest and cleanest drivers in the history of F1, he hasn’t needed to resort to too many professional fouls given his relentless speed, and just cast your mind back to Brazil last year to remember how he can scythe through the field. Twice.
"That error of judgement will have caught Lewis’s attention."
Alonso went on to finish his Belgian Grand Prix sixth on the road, although he inherited fifth as a result of a five-second penalty handed to Charles Leclerc for speeding in the pitlane during his late pitstop.
Brundle took aim once again at Ferrari's strategy management, noting the Scuderia's indecision in the race when evaluating which tyres to bolt on to Leclerc's F1-75.
"Ferrari claim they need to change nothing on the pit wall calls but if you keep doing the same thing don’t be surprised when you get the same result," Brundle said.
"Fully respecting that we only hear selected radio calls on the TV, but the Ferrari team appears to want Leclerc to make the final decisions on tyres when he doesn’t have the full set of data because he’s rather busy driving.
"He can’t possibly make the final call on the hard compound tyre without knowing who’s already using them, if anybody, and how they are performing.
"Leclerc is now third in the championship and 98 points behind, with eight races to go. All things being equal, I think we all know which way this championship is heading."
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