Alonso 'taught' Hamilton racing line in battle at Hungarian GP
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The battle between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton was one of the highlights of the Hungarian GP. The Alpine driver managed to keep the world champion behind for several laps, allowing teammate Esteban Ocon to eventually win the race.
A lock-up by Alonso eventually allowed Hamilton to pass, but the two fought wheel-to-wheel and even touched. "I thought honestly that I could not hold him more than one or two laps, but on the last couple of corners, he seemed to struggle a little bit to follow me. Then it was enough to open a gap on the straight and defend," Alonso told Autosport.com.
"I think he learned a couple of different lines in the last three corners after the 10 laps behind me. “He was able to pass Carlos just in one lap, applying those new lines.” So, according to Alonso, Hamilton adopted his superior line in the last sector, allowing him to overtake Sainz quickly.
Alonso thought podium achievable
Alonso continued: "I had the pace to win the race probably, or that's what it seems when you see the race trace. [After closing the gap to Sainz], I was so convinced about the podium. I was setting the fastest laps of the race, and I thought I will overtake them, and I will try to win the race. That was my mind in that moment."
“Then I started realising that maybe winning the race was not possible. I started thinking at that time that if I was right behind Carlos with the DRS, I could protect myself from Hamilton, and just finish fourth", Alonso said. In the end, he finished fifth, his best result of the season.