Lewis Hamilton has taken a light-hearted swipe at Fernando Alonso following the Spaniard's furious radio outburst during the Singapore Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver posted a video clip from the British comedy show One Foot in the Grave on Instagram, captioned “18 years”, referencing their long-standing rivalry.
During Sunday's race, Hamilton suffered a brake issue in the closing laps, forcing him to cut corners on the street circuit. This allowed Alonso, running in eighth, to close a 40-second gap to just four-tenths of a second by the chequered flag. Over team radio, an irate Alonso exclaimed: “I cannot f****** believe it… Is it safe to drive with no brakes? This should be f****** P7 – you cannot drive.”
Hamilton was later handed a five-second time penalty for multiple track limits violations, promoting Alonso to seventh and dropping the Briton to eighth. The 40-year-old, enduring a podium-less first season at Ferrari, could not resist a comical dig at his former McLaren teammate on social media.
Hamilton also issued a rallying cry after a difficult fortnight that saw the passing of his bulldog Roscoe. “After a tough week, it feels good to be home,” he wrote. “I’m looking at the positives on track too. The media headlines only tell one story… but what I have been focused on is the other story. The one about how this team responds when things go wrong.”
Hamilton is currently sixth in the championship standings without a top-three finish in his first 18 races for Ferrari. The next race is the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on 17-19 October.
