Fernando Alonso says he did not brake test Lewis Hamilton during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and that it was both drivers using their experience in a fight he came out on top of.
Hamilton claimed Alonso had brake tested him into Turn 5 – the hairpin before the longest straight on the track – and the stewards did look into the incident but opted against a full investigation. Alonso says he was trying to make sure he wasn’t vulnerable to Hamilton having DRS at that point on the track having recently made a pit stop but that there was nothing dangerous about his move.
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“Nothing,” Alonso said. “Lewis is obviously very clever and understands the sport really good and has a lot of experience but I have more.
“Yes and no [the comments weren’t surprising]. We did the same in Canada in 2012, so 11 years after that episode, we tried to give the DRS to the other guy, braking for Turn 5 but in both cases I won so it is OK.”
Alonso kept Hamilton at bay and went on to overtake Yuki Tsunoda to finish seventh on Sunday, earning himself fourth place in the drivers’ championship as a result. However, having complained to Aston Martin about how slow the car was in a straight line compared to its rivals, he says it’s an area that needs addressing over the winter.
“Occasionally fast on the straight, but we need a lot more pace to overtake. We were a little bit slow on the straights, we noticed it [on Saturday] but obviously that was the best compromise for us in terms of total lap time but it is something that has been our weakness all throughout the season, the top speed, and it is something that we will work on for next year’s car.
“It was tough because of that and because of the tire degradation. We expected to be on the high side but it was higher than expectations. By lap 16 or something like that we made the first stop and we knew that the race was long from that point.
“But at the end the pace was only good for seventh or eighth and as I said [after qualifying] the lap in qualifying was very good for the position but the pace was a concern. That’s what we saw. We were just quick enough to beat AlphaTauri but that is not enough.”