Fernando Alonso's controversial view that Max Verstappen's two world titles carry more value than Lewis Hamilton's seven championships sparked a reaction on social media from the Briton.
A Verstappen joined Alonso in the sport's history as a two-time world champion, the Spaniard noted that the Dutchman had faced much tougher competition during his banner season that Hamilton.
"I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but still it is different when you win seven world titles when you only had to fight with your team-mate," Alonso told De Telegraaf.
"Then I think a championship has less value than when you have fewer titles but have had to fight against other drivers with equal or even better material."
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The comment was brought to Hamilton's attention who tweeted on Sunday a picture of himself standing atop a podium in 2007, flanked by Alonso who was his McLaren teammate at the time.
There were no words accompanying the photo, but Hamilton added an evocative thumbs up.
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 30, 2022
On Friday, after he was lambasted on social media, or praised depending on the fan group, Alonso attempted to back track on his comment with a post on Twitter:
"Please, all the titles are amazing, well deserved and inspiring. Incomparable to each other and let's enjoy champions and legends of our current time," he wrote.
"Tired of the continuous search for headlines. Let's enjoy them."
Later, queried on his comments, Alonso added that he wanted to clarify what he said to diffuse the tension on social media between his and Hamilton's fans.
"We need to all collaborate on that," said the Alpine charger. "We need to stop putting the fans against each other.
"We are all in the same [thing]. Great champions, great sportsmen, and we try to enjoy this beautiful time."
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