WATCH: 'You Have Very Expensive Driver': Alonso Takes Cheeky Jab At Hamilton

Friday, 23 February 2024 at 11:00

Fernando Alonso taunted Lewis Hamilton again during a recent press conference at pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Fernando Alonso recently expressed concerns about the short period for testing that drivers and their teams are afforded ahead of the start of the season.

The Spanish matador called the rules "unfair" because he believed drivers deserved more time for car preparation. Nowadays, F1 drivers aren't allowed to drive in their cars until the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

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Then they have only these three days before the season's first race, and that's it. Moreover, these three days are a slip between two drivers, so in reality, it's only 1,5 days per driver. Talking about this topic during a recent press conference, he said:

"In football or tennis, you change the racket or balls or everything before the tournament or before a season and you let the players test all the equipment one day before a grand slam."

As the 42-year-old made the comparison between different sports, he went on to talk about how big budgets F1 teams have, but he was interrupted by George Russell:

Alonso: "We are talking in the most sophisticated sport, $200m budget per team a year and things like that."
Russell interjected: "Our budget is $135m."

Alonso then joked as he suggested the Mercedes driver has a "very expensive" teammate (Lewis Hamilton). He said:

"Yeah, but you have a very expensive driver alongside you. So it’s more than $200m probably for Mercedes, with your teammate."

Lewis Hamilton's estimated total earnings just from his contract with Mercedes for the season 2023 was $55 million. It is rumored his new contract with Ferrari is worth somewhere around $100 million per year, but that has nothing to do with Mercedes.

Regulations predefine teams' budgets for the season, as no team can exceed the budget cap. Fortunately, drivers' contracts are not part of the equation, so the teams can pay them how much they want.