Alonso calls Hamilton an idiot 

F 1 legend Lewis Hamilton was branded an “idiot” after a first-lap collision with Fernando Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix, which ended the seven-times world champion’s race early.

Alonso was furious with his former team-mate after Hamilton had tried to claim the second position with an overtaking manoeuvre after both drivers had a brilliant start at Spa.

The Briton had got his Mercedes slightly in front heading into turn five, but turned in too early and was hurled into the air as he went over the tyres of the Alpine alongside him.

The Spaniard, who appeared to emerge unscathed from the incident and finished fifth, made clear how he felt about Hamilton.

“What an idiot, closing the door from the outside,” Alonso said on the team radio. “We had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”

The stewards deemed it a racing incident, given that it happened on the first lap and with plenty of action going on, but Hamilton accepted responsibility.

“Looking back at the footage, he was in my blind spot and I didn’t give him enough space,” Hamilton said. “It was my fault, I couldn’t see him — he was right in my blind spot. It wasn’t intentional, it just happened.”

The pair have a fractious history that dates back to 2007, when they were team-mates at McLaren during Hamilton’s rookie season.

Their relationship turned so sour that Alonso left after one year.

While they mostly speak respectfully about each other now, 15 years on from that fractious campaign, Hamilton made clear after hearing Alonso’s comments that he had no plans to talk to a driver who has won two world titles.

“I don’t really have a response to it,” Hamilton said when asked what he thought of the “idiot” comment. “I know how things feel in the heat of the moment.

“It’s nice to know how he feels about me! It’s better it’s out in the open how he feels. It wasn’t intentional. I take responsibility for it, it’s what adults do.”

Asked if he would speak to Alonso, Hamilton said: “No. I would have, until I heard what he said.”

After Hamilton’s Mercedes was catapulted into the air, it landed with such a heavy impact that it triggered the medical warning light in the car, which meant that Hamilton should have gone to the medical centre for a check-up when he returned to the paddock.

However, he refused to attend and was subsequently handed a warning by the FIA, the sport’s governing body. Hamilton is not the first driver to refuse to see the doctors after an incident this season and the FIA said in its post-race note that it would take stricter action should drivers fail to comply with the safety measures in the future.

Hamilton, who joked that the heavy landing almost broke his back, said he was feeling fine but suspected that he would be a bit sore on Monday.

“I remember just looking at the ground so I knew I was quite high,” he said. “I could hear something broken in the gearbox, so that coming down would have broken so much in the back end. In that moment you’re hopeful you can keep going, but it was not meant to be.”

Alonso later played down his frustration, saying that it was heightened because he had made such a good start and was running second.

“I was very disappointed. When I start well on the first row or second row, all these things happen and, for sure, I was frustrated in that moment,” he said. “But he accepted his mistake and it is welcomed.

“For me it was a little bit of a mistake from his side to close the door like this. It is a tricky part of the circuit, for sure, and it was a racing incident.”