Fernando Alonso Gives His Take On 'Brake-Test' Incident With Lewis Hamilton

Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 12:00

Updated at Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 15:20

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso commented on his incident with Lewis Hamilton on lap 37 of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The two World Champions, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton fought their own battle during the last race of the season at Yas Marina Circuit, but with the same target - to finish as high as possible.

While Mercedes needed to finish ahead of Ferrari, Aston Martin wanted to snatch the fourth place in the Constructors' Championship from McLaren.

Coincidentally, Hamilton and Alonso found themselves next to each other on track multiple times throughout the race in Abu Dhabi and gave no quarter to each other.

One of the most controversial incidents of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race was when the Spanish Matador came out of the pits on lap 37, right ahead of the seven-time World Champion.

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Hamilton was closing in on the Aston Martin driver going into turn five, but then Alonso brake-tested him ahead of the DRS line, which surprised the Mercedes driver, who almost crashed into him.

Asked to comment on the incident after the race, the double World Champion didn't bother explaining the strategy behind it, but only said:

“"Lewis is very clever and understands the sport really well, and has a lot of experience, but I have more."”

The Aston Martin driver compared the incident to the race in Canada in 2012 when Hamilton tried to outsmart him by braking ahead of the DRS detection line to gain the DRS on the Spaniard.

“"We did the same in Canada, I think in 2012 (actually 2013), so [12] years after that episode, we try to give the DRS to the other guy by braking into Turn 5, but in both cases, I won."”

On the one hand, Alonso moved to the right when he braked in order to avoid an incident. On the other hand, Hamilton followed him and might not have expected the move. The 38-year-old described the incident from his perspective:

“"We were flat out and 300, 400 metres before the corner, and doing 180 miles per hour and the guy all of a sudden slows down drastically ahead of me."”